A  TftUttE>-NAIL 

HISTORY  OF  THE 

CITY  OF 

AOU5TON 
TEXAS 


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GENERAL  SAM  HOUSTON 

Patriot  and  Statesman.     The  hero  of  San  Jacinto,  in  whose  honor 
the  City  of  Houston  is  named 


A  THUMB-NAIL 

HISTORY  OF  THE 

CITY  OF 

HOUSTON 
TEXAS 

FROM  ITS  FOUNDING  IN  1836 
TO  THE  YEAR   1912 

>*V    S 

By  DR.  S'.O.  YOUNG  i«rfV- 


HOUSTON,  TEXAS  :  JUNE,  1912 


pat  4 


PRESS  OP 

REIN    &    SONS    COMPANY 
HOUSTON. 


Bancroft 


A  WORD  IN  ADVANCE. 

In  presenting  this  little  volume  to  the  people  of 
Houston  for  their  consideration,  I  feel  that  a  word 
^    of  explanation  is  due.   I  wrote  the  book  to  supply 
ft    a  badly  needed  "need,"  of  course,  but  I  wrote  it 
more  for  my  own  pleasure  than  for  anything  else. 
I  have  made  no  attempt  at  fine  writing  and  have 
,s\    given  no  thought  to  literary  excellence.  My  sole  ob- 
ject has  been  to  attain  accuracy,  and  every  precau- 
-^  tion  has  been  taken  to  guard  against  error.  Where- 
ever  possible  I  have  consulted  original  documents 
and  newspapers.   Yet,  in  spite  of  this,  I  fear  that 
some  errors  have  crept  in  and  that  the  readers  will 
find  many  statements  which  they  may  think  errone- 
ous.   I  say  this  because  there  are  some  stories  and 
traditions    that  have  been  repeated  so  often  that 
many  suppose  them  to  be  true. 

If  the  readers  derive  as  much  pleasure  from  pe- 
rusing these  pages  as  I  have  from  writing  them,  I 
shall  feel  content.  I  have  enjoyed  writing  every 
line,  and  add  "The  End"  with  regret. 

S.  O.  YOUNG. 
Houston,  June  5th,  1912. 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  MY  MOTHER 

JHr*.  JHaitb  3t atutte  Qimng 

WHOSE  LIFE  WA5  LARGELY  DEVOTED  TO  THE  CAUSE 

OF  EDUCATION  AND  TO  THE  CREATION  OF  A 

TASTE  FOR  LITERATURE  AND  THE  SCIENCES 

IN  THE  MINDS  OF  THE   EARLIER   CITIZENS 

OF  HOUSTON.  THIS  LITTLE  VOLUME 

IS  LOVINGLY  DEDICATED 

—THE  AUTHOR 


CHAPTER  ONE. 

Why  Houston  Was  Founded — When  Incorporat- 
ed— First  Mayor  of  Houston — Various  Admin- 
istrations —  Reconstruction  Days  —  Huge  City 
Debt — What  the  Commission  Is  Doing  Today- 
Full  List  of  Houston's  Mayors. 

A  fact  not  generally  known  nor  appreciated  is 
that  Houston  is  the  result  of  a  disagreement  between 
the  Aliens  and  the  Harrises.  There  was  no  serious 
quarrel  or  anything  of  that  sort.  They  differed 
about  land  matters,  with  the  result  that  the  Aliens, 
instead  of  joining  the  Harrises  in  their  efforts  to 
build  up  the  already  established  town  of  Harris- 
burg,  came  five  miles  by  land  and  about  sixteen 
miles  by  water  further  up  the  bayou,  and  laid  the 
foundation  for  the  rival  town,  which  was  destined 
to  become  the  greatest  city  in  Texas  and  one  of  the 
greatest  in  the  Southwest. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was  no  good  rea- 
son for  the  new  town.  The  location  at  Harrisburg 
was  ideal  and  had  many  advantages,  naturally,  that 
Houston  had  to  create  artificially.  There  was,  to 
begin  with,  sixteen  miles  of  very  crooked  and  hard- 
ly navigable  bayou  to  be  overcome  in  order  to  reach 
Houston,  while  the  new  site  had  absolutely  nothing 
to  compensate  for  this  disadvantage. 

However,  there  was  an  element  injected  into  the 
controversy  that  helped  the  Aliens  wonderfully  in 
carrying  out  their  scheme.  Santa  Anna's  soldiers 


8  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

showed  up  just  at  the  critical  moment  and  burned 
Harrisburg.  Before  the  Harrises  could  recover 
from  the  blow,  and  while  their  town  still  lay  in 
ashes,  the  Aliens  acted  and  not  only  had  their  town 
laid  out,  but  were  actively  engaged  in  selling  town 
lots  to  settlers.  Not  much  progress  was  made  dur- 
ing the  first  year,  however,  and  there  was  not  much 
of  a  city  in  evidence  and  scarcely  more  to  indicate 
where  that  city  was  to  be,  for  Governor  Frank 
Lubbock,  in  his  memoirs,  gives  an  amusing  descrip- 
tion of  his  search  for  the  town,  even  after  he  had 
reached  and  passed  the  foot  of  Main  street.  He 
came  to  Houston  on  the  first  steamboat  that  ever 
arrived  here  and  it  took  four  days  to  make  the  trip 
from  Harrisburg  to  Houston.  That  being  the  pio- 
neer trip  an  immense  amount  of  work  had  to  be 
done  to  clear  the  stream  of  sunken  logs  and  over- 
hanging trees.  There  was  plenty  of  water,  but 
there  were  numerous  obstructions  in  and  over  the 
channel.  After  that  first  boat  there  was  little  or  no 
delay  and  before  long  there  were  other  boats  that 
came  to  Houston,  and  in  a  year  or  two  there  was  a 
regular  service  established  between  Houston  and 
Galveston. 

The  question  of  transportation  was  one  of  the 
most  serious  with  which  the  early  settlers  had  to 
contend.  Transportation  by  land  was  not  only  dif- 
ficult, but  actually  dangerous,  for  there  were  hos- 
tile Indians  and  predatory  bands  of  Mexicans  ever 
on  the  watch  for  unwary  settlers.  There  were  no 
roads,  ordinary  trails  being  the  only  guides  for  the 


.3.  A.  <AZJjEH 
HPIONE£&  8c  PATRIOT  OP  HOUSTON     WITS' Of 6.  LALL£N. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS 


traveller,  and  therefore  when  communication  was 
established  with  the  outside  world  by  water  from 
Houston,  it  was  looked  on  as  a  blessing,  since  it 
saved  many  miles  of  difficult  and  dangerous  travel. 
The  bayou  soon  became  popular  and  Houston 
sprang  at  once  into  the  greatest  prominence  as  a 
receiving  and  distributing  point.  It  is  remarkable 
that  Houston  should  have  had  all  those  advantages, 
naturally,  in  the  early  days  and  then  after  the  lapse 
of  many  years  she  should  still  retain  them  through 
the  commercial  activity  and  business  foresight  of 
her  citizens. 

During  the  first  eighteen  months  of  the  new 
city's  existence  there  was  little  accomplished  aside 
from  perfecting  the  plans  and  arranging  the  divi- 
sions of  Houston,  for  there  was  not  much  more  of 
a  city  than  a  name  and  some  surveyed  streets  and 
lots  until  late  in  1837.  By  then  the  town  began  to 
show  some  life  and  activity.  It  is  true  that  the  city 
was  more  like  a  military  camp  than  anything  else, 
for  it  was  composed  largely  of  tents,  with  here  and 
there  a  small  log  cabin.  During  1837  there  was  a 
large  storehouse  built  at  the  corner  of  Commerce 
street  and  Main  and  at  the  same  time  work  was  be- 
gun on  the  "Mansion  House,"  Houston's  first  ho- 
tel. This  was  located  on  the  corner  now  occupied 
by  the  Southern  Pacific  offices. 

But  it  was  not  until  1838  that  Houston  took  on 
genuine  city  airs.  That  year  an  election  was  held  to 
decide  whether  the  city  should  be  incorporated  or 
not.  The  result  was  an  affirmative  vote  and  the 


10  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

same  year  the  Texas  Congress  granted  the  City  of 
Houston  a  charter. 

Having  become  a  chartered  city  it  was  necessary 
to  elect  a  mayor  and  board  of  aldermen.  Unfor- 
tunately all  the  records  of  the  city  have  been  twice 
destroyed  by  fire,  but  tradition  and  the  oldest  in- 
habitants declare  that  Dr.  Francis  Moore,  Jr.,  was 
the  first  mayor  of  Houston.  Now  there  is  really  no 
good  nor  substantial  reason  for  doubting  that  Dr. 
Moore  was  the  first  mayor,  and  the  question  is 
brought  up  in  this  way  so  as  to  give  place  to  a  doubt 
introduced  by  Maj.  Ingham  Roberts,  who  has  made 
a  close  study  of  all  that  relates  to  the  early  history 
of  Houston.  Major  Roberts,  in  the  History  of 
Southeast  Texas,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  edi- 
tors, publishes  a  list  of  Houston's  mayors  and  gives 
the  honor  of  being  the  first  to  James  S.  Holman. 
The  Major  gives  as  his  authority  for  doing  this,  a 
notice  published  in  the  Telegraph  of  Sept.  29,  1837, 
calling  an  election  to  fill  vacancies  caused  by  the 
deaths  of  two  aldermen,  which  notice  was  signed 
Jas.  S.  Holman,  "Mayor." 

Major  Roberts  is  a  most  careful  student  and  ac- 
curate writer,  and  yet  one  is  constrained  to  believe 
that  a  serious  error  has  been  committed  by  himself 
or  by  the  paper  publishing  that  notice.  In  the  first 
place,  Houston  was  not  incorporated  until  a  year 
after  the  date  of  that  notice  and,  therefore,  could 
not  have  had  a  mayor  or  board  of  aldermen.  In  the 
next  place,  James  S.  Holman  was  clerk  of  the  Elev- 
enth District  Court  from  February,  1837,  until 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,,  TEXAS  11 

1842,  and  it  is  not  likely  that  he  could  have  been 
mayor  of  Houston  at  the  same  time.  As  a  matter 
of  fact  he  was  clerk  of  the  court  at  the  very  time 
that  notice  was  published,  as  the  court  records  show. 
The  matter  is  given  space  here  so  as  to  bring  out  all 
the  facts  for  the  guidance  of  future  historians. 

When  the  Moore  administration  took  office,  its 
first  act  was  to  extend  the  city  limits,  which  to  that 
time  had  been  the  Bayou  on  the  north,  Walker  street 
on  the  south,  Bagby  street  on  the  west  and  Caroline 
on  the  east.  The  limits  were  extended  so  as  to  em- 
brace nine  square  miles.  This  was  done  in  order 
to  increase  the  taxable  area  and  to  include  within 
the  city  limits  many  citizens  who  had  built  residences 
just  beyond  the  old  city  lines.  The  nine-mile  area 
was  maintained  many  years,  or  until  the  city  fell  in 
the  hands  of  the  "Carpet-bag"  Republicans  ap- 
pointed by  E.  J.  Davis  during  reconstruction  days. 
These  found  it  necessary,  in  order  to  create  more 
plunder,  to  increase  the  taxable  area,  so  they  ex- 
tended the  limits  so  as  to  embrace  twenty-five 
square  miles.  When  the  Carpet-baggers  were 
turned  out  of  office  by  the  home  people  who  had 
regained  control  of  affairs,  the  limits  were  reduced 
to  nine  square  miles.  That  was  in  1874,  and  until 
1903  no  change  was  made.  But  by  that  time  the 
city  had  so  extended  beyond  its  limits  that  an  in- 
crease was  demanded  in  justice  and  fairness  to  all, 
so  the  area  was  fixed  at  sixteen  square  miles.  A 
remarkable  feature  is  that  since  those  limits  were 
fixed,  the  city  has  again  far  outgrown  its  bounds, 


12  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

so  that  a  very  large  number,  perhaps  15,000  or 
20,000  nominal  citizens  of  Houston  are  living  out- 
side the  city  limits.  Aside  from  fixing  the  city 
limits  and  placing  some  pine  trees  across  the  streets, 
so  that  people  could  get  across  from  one  corner  to 
another  without  bogging  down  in  the  mud,  there 
appears  to  have  been  nothing  accomplished  by  the 
Moore  administration,  or  by  that  of  G.  W.  Lively, 
the  second  mayor.  It  was  reserved  for  the  Charles 
Biglow  administration,  in  1840,  to  take  the  first 
step  towards  permanent  public  improvement.  That 
year  a  contract  was  let  for  the  erection  of  a  market 
house  and  city  hall  on  Market  square.  That  old  mar- 
ket was  pointed  to  with  pride  for  many  years  by  all 
Houstonians.  It  was  really  a  pretentious  build- 
ing for  it  had  length,  if  not  height,  being  only  one- 
story  high.  It  extended  from  Preston  to  Congress 
and  on  the  Congress  side  it  was  two-stories  high, 
the  upper  floor  being  used  as  a  city  hall,  while  the 
lower  one  was  devoted  to  a  city  jail  or  "calaboose" 
as  it  was  called. 

The  market  part  was  given  over  to  the  butchers 
and  vegetable  people,  who  had  stalls  arranged  on 
each  side,  while  a  broad  alley  extended  down  the 
entire  length  of  the  market.  There  was  no  floor, 
only  the  bare  earth  serving  for  that  purpose.  The 
building  soon  became  famous  for  the  number  of 
rats  that  took  possession  of  it.  Perhaps,  in  no  part 
of  the  world  were  there  ever  so  many  rats  gathered 
together  in  a  limited  space  as  were  found  in  that 
old  place.  However,  it  was  a  great  improvement  on 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,,  TEXAS  13 

conditions  that  had  prevailed  to  that  time,  for  the 
market  vendors  had  been  forced  to  do  business  in 
the  open  air,  or  under  a  dilapidated  shed  that  some 
one  had  erected.  There  was  a  tent,  not  on  the 
square,  however,  that  was  used  for  market  pur- 
poses, but  that  was  a  private  affair  with  which  the 
city  had  nothing  to  do. 

The  old  market  house  stood  for  many  years  and 
was  finally  torn  down  to  make  place  for  the  famous 
market  house  erected  by  the  Scanlan  administra- 
tion. The  story  of  that  famous  building  is  worth 
telling.  Mr.  Alexander  McGowan  had  been  elected 
mayor  of  the  city  in  1867,  but  was  turned  out  of 
office  by  E.  J.  Davis,  the  "reconstruction"  Gov- 
ernor of  Texas,  in  August,  1868.  Some  other 
changes  were  made,  but  it  was  not  until  1870,  that 
Davis  showed  his  hand  by  turning  everybody  out 
of  office  and  appointing  his  own  henchmen.  T.  H. 
Scanlan  was  appointed  mayor  and  four  ignorant 
negroes  were  made  aldermen  by  Davis.  Then  the 
"plundering"  began  in  real  earnest,  and  by  the  time 
they  got  through  Houston  had  a  debt  of  almost 
two  million  dollars  and  had  but  little  or  nothing  to 
show  for  it.  It  was  no  public  spirit  or  local  pride 
that  gave  Houston  the  finest  market  house  in  the 
South.  Houston  got  the  building  finally,  but  Hous- 
ton paid  a  fancy  price  for  it.  It  was  merely  the  op- 
portunity to  extend  the  loot  field  that  lay  behind 
the  market  that  resulted  in  its  final  construction. 

Having  decided  to  erect  a  market  house,  plans 
were  drawn,  specifications  made  and  bids  were  in- 


14  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

vited.  Col.  William  Brady  was  the  successful  bid- 
der at  $250,000.  He  was  backed  by  some  New 
Yorkers.  He  agreed  to  take  the  city's  bonds  in  pay- 
ment, they  to  bear  8  per  cent  interest  and  to  run 
twenty-five  years.  That  part  of  the  contract  was 
all  right,  perhaps,  but  after  actual  construction  of 
the  building  began,  things  began  to  show  up  that 
were  never  expected.  Col.  Brady  built  according 
to  the  plans  and  specifications,  but  when  those  were 
examined  it  was  found  that  they  contained  no  pro- 
vision for  blinds,  some  doors,  and  in  one  or  two  in- 
stances, for  floors  for  the  building.  The  whole  thing 
was  found  to  be  merely  an  outline  of  plans  and 
specifications,  but  Col.  Brady  claimed  it  was  what 
he  had  bid  on  and  he  held  the  city  strictly  to  its  con- 
tract with  him. 

There  was  only  one  thing  to  do — issue  more 
bonds,  and  that  was  when  the  city  limits  were  ex- 
tended, so  as  to  take  in  more  taxpayers.  The  tax 
area  was  increased,  more  bonds  were  issued,  and  be- 
fore the  market  house  was  completed  its  total  cost 
was  $470,000  instead  of  $250,000  as  originally 
contemplated.  The  building  was  insured  for  $100,- 
000,  but  when  it  was  burned  down  in  1876,  the  in- 
surance companies  refused  to  pay  even  that,  and, 
after  much  haggling,  finally  agreed  to  restore  the 
building,  which  they  did  at  an  outlay  of  only  $80,- 
000.  The  restored  building  was  also  destroyed  by 
fire  some  years  later,  when  the  present  magnifi- 
cent building  was  erected. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  IS 

A  so-called  election  was  held  in  1872,  and  by  im- 
porting negroes  from  the  surrounding  counties  and 
obstructing  the  white  voters,  the  Republicans  were 
able  to  elect  the  entire  city  ticket  and  keep  the  same 
gang  in  office.  Retribution  was  near  at  hand,  how- 
ever, for  the  next  year  the  Democrats  swept  the 
State  and  elected  CokeGovernor.  In  January,  1874, 
Houston  was  granted  a  new  charter,  by  provision 
of  which  the  Governor  was  authorized  to  appoint 
the  city  officials  of  Houston.  Governor  Coke  lost 
no  time,  but  turned  the  Scanlan  crowd  out  of  of- 
fice. He  then  appointed  Mr.  Jas.  T.  D.  Wilson, 
mayor,  and  also  appointed  a  board  of  aldermen 
composed  of  respectable  and  prominent  citizens.  A 
few  months  later  an  election  was  held  and  all  the 
gentlemen  appointed  by  the  Governor  were  regu- 
larly elected. 

There  was  little  accomplished  by  the  new  admin- 
istration during  their  tenure  of  office.  The  affairs 
of  the  city  were  so  badly  tangled  and  the  bonded 
and  floating  debts  were  so  large  that  the  city  was 
absolutely  without  money  or  credit.  Under  condi- 
tions such  as  these  it  was  not  expected  that  anything 
could  be  done  beyond  "standing  off"  clamoring 
creditors  and  answering  court  summonses,  for  the 
city  was  being  constantly  sued. 

After  holding  office  for  one  year  the  Wilson  ad- 
ministration retired  and  Mr.  I.  C.  Lord  was  chosen 
as  mayor  in  1875.  He  had  all  that  his  predecessor 
had  to  contend  with,  and  in  addition  there  came  up 
the  question  of  disposing  of  the  interest  the  city  had 


16  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

acquired,  in  some  way,  in  the  Houston  East  and 
West  Texas  railroad.  The  interest  owned  by  the 
city  was  in  that  part  of  the  road  surveyed  as  far 
west  as  the  Brazos  near  Bellville,  but  which  had 
been  abandoned  and  has  never  been  built.  There 
were  suits  and  counter-suits  and  the  whole  question 
became  very  much  involved.  Finally  the  city  sold 
its  interest  for  $35,000  and  went  out  of  the  railroad 
business  for  good.  But  it  was  a  case  of  jumping 
out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire,  for  so  soon  as 
it  was  known  that  the  Lord  administration  had  a 
little  cash  on  hand  the  court  house  feature  became 
aggravated  and  everybody  was  clamoring  to  get 
hold  of  it.  Old  notes,  old  and  new  claims,  popped 
up  from  unexpected  quarters  and  the  situation  be- 
came desperate.  Mr.  Lord  held  office  for  two  years 
and  then  quit  in  disgust. 

Mr.  Wilson  having  had  a  two  years  rest  was  per- 
suaded by  the  citizens  to  try  his  hand  again.  This 
was  literally  true  for  at  that  time  a  man  had  to  be 
persuaded  to  take  such  an  onerous  office  as  that  of 
the  debt-burdened  city.  It  required  patience,  hon- 
esty of  purpose  and  fine  executive  and  financial 
ability  to  keep  the  affairs  of  the  city  going,  even 
for  a  day,  and  those  who  were  qualified  to  act  were 
not  anxious  to  do  so. 

The  second  administration  of  Mr.  Wilson  result- 
ed in  the  establishment,  or  rather  in  the  inaugura- 
tion of  the  movement  that  resulted  in  establishing 
the  water  works  here.  Before  that  time  Houston 
depended  entirely  on  underground  cisterns  for  its 


COL.  W.  J.  HUTCHINS 

(DECEASED) 

Prominent  Citizen   Banker  and  Merchant 
of  Houston 


T.  W.  HOUSE.  SR. 

(DECEASED) 

Founder  of  the  Bank  of  T.  W.  House.  A  Pioneer 
and  Patriot  of  Texas 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  17 

water  supply,  both  for  drinking  and  for  fire  pro- 
tection purposes.  Soon  after  the  beginning  of  his 
second  term  Mr.  Wilson  sent  a  special  message  to 
the  council,  drawing  attention  to  the  great  need  of 
water  works.  The  city  had  no  money  to  build  such 
works,  but  was  prepared  and  willing  to  deal  most 
liberally  with  any  private  company  or  corporation 
that  would  undertake  the  work.  Nearly  a  year  later 
such  a  company  was  formed,  and  some  months  later, 
in  August,  1879,  the  company  actually  constructed 
the  first  water  works  on  the  north  side  of  the  bayou 
near  what  was  called  "Stanley's  brick  yard,"  where 
they  have  remained  ever  since.  The  service,  how- 
ever, was  abominable  and  pleased  no  one.  The  com- 
pany built  a  dam  across  the  bayou  so  as  to  shut  off 
tide  water  and  secure  as  pure  water  as  possible  from 
the  upper  bayou.  It  was  totally  unfit  to  drink  and 
no  one  ever  thought  of  using  it  for  that  purpose. 

In  the  early  nineties  it  was  discovered  that  an 
abundant  supply  of  the  purest  artesian  water  could 
be  obtained  anywhere  in  Houston,  and  the  water- 
works company  sank  several  artesian  wells.  That 
gave  Houston  an  abundant  supply  of  pure  drink- 
ing water.  However,  the  stand-pipe  was  too  small, 
or  for  some  other  reason  the  company  claimed  they 
could  not  supply  the  city  with  both  drinking  water 
and  water  for  protection  against  fire,  and  every 
time  a  fire  occurred  they  would  pump  bayou  water 
into  the  reservoir,  with  the  result  that  the  water  be- 
came unfit  to  drink  for  some  time  after  every  fire. 
The  people  complained,  but  that  did  no  good.  Fin- 
ally, in  1906,  under  the  administration  of  Mayor 


18  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Baldwin  Rice,  the  city  purchased  the  plant  outright, 
for  $901,000,  and  since  that  time  there  has  been  no 
complaint  nor  any  reason  for  complaint.  This  is  the 
only  public  utility  owned  by  the  city,  but  its  record 
has  been  a  good  one,  so  much  so  as  to  create  some- 
thing of  a  general  desire  that  the  city  take  over 
some  others  and  run  them  in  the  interest  of  the  peo- 
ple as  the  water  works  are  now  run.  As  one  evi- 
dence of  how  the  people  have  gained  by  the  change, 
it  may  be  said  that  the  old  company  was  charging 
50c  per  thousand  gallons  for  water,  but  the  city 
at  once  reduced  this  charge  to  15c,  employed  more 
men  to  add  to  the  efficiency,  and  has  done  all  this 
without  the  loss  of  a  cent  of  the  taxpayers'  money. 

After  serving  two  terms,  Mr.  Wilson  retired  and 
was  succeeded  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Burke.  There  was  noth- 
ing accomplished  during  this  administration  for  the 
very  good  reason  that  nothing  could  be  accom- 
plished. Efforts  were  made  to  compromise  the  huge 
city  debt,  but  the  bondholders  stood  firm  and  noth- 
ing could  be  done. 

When  Mr.  Burke's  term  expired,  some  of  the 
leading  men  of  Houston  conceived  a  great  idea. 
They  determined  to  apply  expert  business  methods 
and  nothing  else  in  settling  the  city's  affairs.  A 
committee,  composed  of  the  best  business  men  of 
the  city,  waited  on  Mr.  Wm.  R.  Baker  and  asked 
him  to  devote  his  superb  financial  ability  towards 
solving  the  great  financial  problem  which  confront- 
ed the  city.  He,  after  some  hesitation,  consented  to 
do  so,  but  made  it  one  of  the  conditions  that  he 
should  name  the  men  who  were  to  serve  as  aldermen 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  19 

with  him.  This  was  granted  and  he  named  a  num- 
ber of  the  leading  bankers,  merchants  and  business 
men  as  his  staff.  There  was  no  serious  opposition 
to  the  ticket  and  it  was  elected  by  practically  a 
unanimous  vote. 

When  the  city  was  turned  over  to  those  gentle- 
men, the  bondholders  became  very  confident.  Be- 
fore that  they  were  growing  uneasy,  to  say  the  least, 
for  the  people  were  becoming  desperate  and  every- 
body was  talking  about  throwing  up  the  city  char- 
ter and  repudiating  the  unjust  debt  that  had  been 
forced  on  the  city.  However,  when  Houston  was 
placed  in  the  hands  of  such  prominent  business  men 
and  great  financiers,  doubt  and  fear  disappeared, 
for  the  bondholders  knew  that  these  gentlemen 
could  not  afford  to  be  mixed  up  in  anything  such 
as  repudiating  a  debt,  therefore  they  became  firm 
and  insistent.  Already  something  like  repudiation 
had  taken  place,  for  the  citizens  had  held  an  election 
and  decided  that  not  more  than  50c  on  the  dollar 
should  be  paid  for  the  bonds.  This  action  tied  the 
hands  of  the  Baker  administration,  of  course,  and 
they  could  do  nothing,  for  the  bondholders  would 
not  accept  50c  on  the  dollar. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  Baker  administration 
a  final  effort  was  made.  Mr.  Wm.  D.  Cleveland 
and  Mr.  J.  Waldo,  two  of  the  aldermen,  went  to 
New  York  for  a  conference  with  the  bondholders, 
who  were  showing  an  inclination  to  "listen  to  rea- 
son." After  some  discussion  the  bondholders  agreed 
to  compromise  for  60c  on  the  dollar  and  to  take 


20  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

forty-year  bonds,  a  new  issue.  The  aldermen  ex- 
plained that  the  action  of  the  citizens  precluded 
their  paying  more  than  50c.  Then  the  bondholders 
made  the  following  proposition:  The  compromise 
would  be  made  ostensibly  for  60c  on  the  dollar,  but 
really  for  40c.  A  prominent  Houston  banker  whose 
name  they  gave,  Mr.  Baker  and  Mr.  Cleveland 
were  to  guarantee  that  the  new  bonds  would  be  is- 
sued by  the  city  and  for  doing  this  the  bondholders 
would  divide  the  difference  between  40c  and  60c 
with  these  three  men  and  keep  quiet  about  it.  The 
aldermen  returned  to  Houston,  and  Mr.  Cleveland, 
Mayor  Baker  and  the  banker  went  over  the  propo- 
sition. Mr.  Cleveland  pointed  out  that  the  plan 
proposed  offered  the  only  solution  of  the  problem 
and  suggested  that  the  three  gentlemen  draw  up 
an  agreement,  together  with  a  statement  of  facts, 
by  which  the  city  wrould  get  all  the  bonds  that  were, 
ostensibly,  set  aside  for  themselves ;  that  this  agree- 
ment be  witnessed  by  reputable  witnesses  and  lock- 
ed up  securely  in  a  safe.  The  bondholders  had  said 
they  would  treat  the  matter  confidentially.  Mr. 
Cleveland  and  Mr.  Baker  saw  the  advantage  to 
the  city  and  were  anxious  to  close  the  deal,  but  the 
banker  was  afraid  and  dreaded  adverse  criticism 
and  discussion  by  the  people  who  would  know  noth- 
ing of  the  truth  of  the  deal  until  it  was  all  over,  so 
he  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with  it  and  as  the 
bondholders  insisted  on  his  taking  part,  the  thing 
fell  through  and  Houston  lost  the  opportunity  of 
compromising  her  debt  on  the  most  advantageous 
conditions  that  were  ever  offered. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  21 

With  so  many  bonds  out,  some  of  them  were  in 
weak  hands.  These  small  holders,  either  willing- 
ly or  unwillingly,  parted  with  their  holdings  for 
about  35  cents  on  the  dollar.  The  Baker  adminis- 
tration was  enabled  to  pick  up  a  great  many  bonds 
in  that  way,  but  the  large  holders  stood  firm.  Buy- 
ing the  bonds,  as  Mayor  Baker  did,  reduced  the 
bonded  debt,  of  course,  but  it  was  borrowing  from 
Peter  to  pay  Paul,  for  at  the  close  of  the  Baker 
administration  the  floating  debt  of  the  city  was 
about  $200,000  greater  than  when  it  went  in. 

Having  tried  expert  business  methods  and  failed, 
the  people  arose  in  their  might  and  went  to  the  op- 
posite extreme.  They  turned  out  the  financiers 
and  put  Mr.  D.  C.  Smith  and  what  was  called  a 
"short  hair"  board  of  aldermen  in  office.  The 
labor  ticket  was  elected  triumphantly,  and  in  elect- 
ing these  gentlemen,  the  citizens  did  a  wise  thing. 
When  the  news  reached  New  York  that  the  city 
had  been  turned  over  to  the  labor  element  there 
was  consternation  in  the  bondholders'  camp.  They 
could  see  nothing  but  repudiation  and  ruin  ahead 
of  them,  and  their  greatest  fear  was  that  the  debt 
might  be  repudiated  before  their  agents  could  get 
here  with  offers  of  compromise.  After  some  bick- 
ering, which  served  to  delay  action  by  the  council  if 
in  no  other  way,  the  bondholders  came  to  an  agree- 
ment with  the  city  by  the  terms  of  which  the  debt 
was  compromised  on  a  basis  that  permitted  the  city 
to  make  needed  improvements  and  pay  interest  reg- 


22  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

ularly  on  the  reduced  debt.    Since  that  day  the  city 
has  been  free  from  great  financial  embarrassment. 

It  seems  strange  to  say  in  one  breath  that  Hous- 
ton has  the  best  and  the  most  dangerous  form  of 
government  that  could  possibly  be  conceived.  And 
yet  that  is  literally  true.  The  form,  as  all  know, 
gives  almost  absolute  power  to  a  few  men  chosen, 
not  by  wards  as  was  done  formerly,  but  by  all  the 
people  of  the  city  regardless  of  ward  and  sub-ward 
divisions.  The  advantages  of  this  method  are  ap- 
parent, for  the  Mayor,  or  Chairman,  and  each  Com- 
missioner represents  the  whole  city  and  not  any  par- 
ticular part  of  it.  Each  is  responsible  to  the  whole 
people  and  not,  as  formerly,  to  that  one  part  of  it 
where  he  might  chance  to  have  lived  and  from  which 
he  was  chosen  by  the  votes  of  his  friends  and  neigh- 
bors only.  He  owes  no  political  debt  to  any  single 
ward  and  it  becomes  his  duty  to  legislate  for  the 
good  of  the  city  as  a  whole  and  not  for  any  sub- 
division of  it. 

The  dangerous  feature  is  the  power  the  commis- 
sion form  gives  a  few  men.  Should  a  dishonest  or 
incompetent  Board  of  Commissioners  chance  to  se- 
cure election,  the  result  might  be  disastrous  before 
the  people  awoke  to  their  peril  and  took  steps  to 
check  it.  Of  course  such  a  condition  as  that  is  very 
unlikely  to  occur,  still  there  is  a  possibility  of  its  oc- 
curring and  in  that  one  thing  alone  lies  the  danger. 

The  mere  fact  that  there  is  danger  in  the  form, 
assures  its  safety,  for  it  puts  the  voters  on  their 
guard  and  they  are  more  careful  than  ever  they 
were  under  the  old  method,  in  selecting  their  serv- 
ants, so  that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  unworthy  or 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  23 

incompetent  men  to  be  elected.  If  the  commission 
had  nothing  else  to  recommend  it,  this  placing  the 
voters  on  their  guard  would  be  a  sufficient  indorse- 
ment of  its  merits. 

The  evolution  of  the  Commission  idea  has  been 
slow  and  tedious,  and  it  is  remarkable  that  it  has 
taken  great  disasters  to  impress  its  merits  on  the 
minds  of  interested  communities.  Following  the 
two  great  yellow  fever  epidemics  of  1878  and  1879 
in  Memphis,  Term.,  the  people  of  that  city  found 
themselves  bankrupt  and  forced  to  adopt  the  un- 
tried and  desperate  remedy  of  ceasing  to  be  an  in- 
corporated city  and  becoming  a  taxing  district  un- 
der a  commission.  That  was,  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
the  first  time  the  commission  idea  was  applied  prac- 
tically to  the  management  and  direction  of  munici- 
pal affairs.  It  was  not  until  the  great  disaster  at 
Galveston  on  September  8,  1900,  that  anything  like 
a  practical  commission  for  the  government  of  a  city 
was  devised.  Galveston,  by  act  of  the  Legislature, 
was  granted  a  new  charter  which  did  away  with  the 
old  mayor  and  board  of  aldermen  and  placed  mu- 
nicipal affairs  in  the  hands  of  five  commissioners— 
a  mayor,  or  chairman,  a  commissioner  of  finance, 
a  commissioner  of  streets  and  alleys,  a  commissioner 
of  water  works,  lights,  etc.,  a  commissioner  of  po- 
lice and  fire  departments.  These  are  all  elected  by 
the  whole  vote  of  the  city  and  each  commissioner  is 
given  full  charge  of  his  department  and  held  re- 
sponsible for  its  working.  The  other  commissioners 
have  the  authority  to  overrule  and  veto  any  unde- 
sirable act  of  any  one  of  their  members,  but  this  has 
never  been  necessary,  for  the  ability  and  honesty  of 
the  men  thus  far  elected  by  the  people  have  been 


24  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

such  as  to  render  unnecessary  the  exercise  of  the 
veto  power  by  the  other  commissioners.  If  argu- 
ment were  necessary  to  show  the  merits  of  the  Com- 
mission form  of  municipal  government,  the  suc- 
cess of  that  in  Galveston  would  be  all  sufficient. 

The  success  of  the  Galveston  Commission  attract- 
ed wide  attention  and  in  1904  the  plan  was  submit- 
ted to  the  voters  of  Houston  and,  they  having  adopt- 
ed it,  the  next  year  a  new  charter  was  granted  the 
city,  under  the  terms  of  which  Houston  became  a 
Commission  city. 

Houston's  charter  differs  in  many  respects  from 
those  of  Galveston,  Dallas  and  other  cities  that  have 
gone  under  commission  rule.  Its  practical  work- 
ing is  so  well  shown  in  an  address  delivered  by 
Mayor  Rice  before  the  Chicago  Commercial  Club 
in  December,  1910,  that  it  may  be  well  to  take  the 
following  points  from  that  address  so  as  to  best  il- 
lustrate the  commission: 

"The  essential  differences  between  the  old  form 
of  municipal  government  and  the  commission  form 
are  three,"  said  the  mayor.  "The  substitution  of  a 
smaller  number  of  aldermen,  elected  from  the  city 
at  large,  in  place  of  a  large  number  of  aldermen, 
elected  from  different  wards  or  subdivisions  of  the 
city;  vesting  of  a  co-ordinate  power  in  the  mayor 
as  in  the  city  council  to  dismiss  any  officer  of  the 
city  government,  except  the  controller,  at  any  time 
without  cause,  and  the  essential  provisions  safe- 
guarding the  granting  of  municipal  franchises.  In- 
stead of  a  body  of  twelve  aldermen,  elected  from 


COL  CHAS.    STEWART 

(DECEASED) 
Former   Prominent  Attorney  and  Member  Congress 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  25 

different  wards  or  subdivisions  of  the  city,  under 
the  Houston  system  four  aldermen  are  elected  from 
the  body  of  the  city  by  the  votes  of  all  the  citizens, 
in  the  same  way  in  which  the  mayor  is  elected. 
These  four  aldermen,  together  with  the  mayor,  con- 
stitute the  city  council  or  legislative  department  of 
the  city  government.  The  executive  power  is  raft- 
ed in  the  mayor,  hut  by  an  ordinance,  for  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  city's  affairs,  a  large  part  of 
executive  or  administrative  power  is  subdivided 
into  different  departments,  and  a  committee  is 
placed  over  each  department,  and  one  of  the  four 
aldermen,  nominated  by  the  mayor,  is  what  is 
known  as  the  active  chairman. 

The  mayor  and  all  four  aldermen  are  members 
of  each  committee.  The  active  chairman  of  the 
committee  practically  has  control  of  the  administra- 
tion of  the  department,  unless  his  views  are  over- 
ruled by  the  whole  committee,  but  by  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  committees  the  active  chairman  does  the 
work,  to  a  certain  extent,  under  the  supervision  and 
direction  of  the  mayor,  who  is,  in  the  last  analysis, 
the  head  of  each  committee  and  the  person  in  whom 
the  executive  power  of  the  municipal  government 
ultimately  rests. 

"Under  the  old  system  of  government,  by  which 
twelve  aldermen  were  elected  from  as  many  differ- 
ent precincts  of  the  city,  it  frequently  happened 
that  unfit  men  came  to  represent  certain  wards  of 
the  city  council.  Now,  unless  a  man  has  sufficient 
standing  and  reputation  throughout  the  body  of 


26  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

the  city  as  a  fit  man  for  the  office  of  alderman  he 
will  not  be  elected.  Again,  each  alderman  under  the 
present  system  represents  the  whole  city.  Under  the 
old  system  the  conduct  of  public  business  was  con- 
tinually obstructed  by  a  system  of  petty  log-rolling 
going  on  among  and  between  the  representatives 
of  the  numerous  sub-divisions  of  the  city.  Then, 
too,  the  smallness  of  the  number  of  aldermen  now 
affords  opportunity  for  the  transaction  of  business. 

"An  executive  session  is  held  previous  to  each 
meeting  of  the  city  council,  at  which  matters  to  come 
before  the  council  are  discussed  and  action  deter- 
mined on.  The  small  number  of  aldermen  enables 
the  city  administration  to  act  on  all  matters  of  im- 
portance as  a  unit.  In  other  words,  the  system 
makes  it  possible  to  administer  the  affairs  of  the 
city  in  a  prompt  and  business-like  way. 

"This  is  one  of  the  strongest  arguments  in  favor 
of  the  present  commission  form  of  government,  for 
with  a  majority  of  the  aldermen  always  in  session, 
public  business  can  be,  and  is,  promptly  attended  to. 
It  is  no  longer  necessary  to  go  before  the  city  coun- 
cil with  petitions  to  have  something  done.  Any  citi- 
zen who  desires  to  have  a  street  paved,  taxes  adjust- 
ed, a  nuisance  abated,  or  anything  else,  has  only  to 
call  at  the  mayor's  office  and  have  the  matter 
promptly  adjusted.  After  a  hearing,  the  matter  is 
decided  by  the  council  in  the  presence  of  the  appli- 
cant. To  illustrate  the  great  difference  between 
this  method  and  the  old  one,  the  following  compari- 
son is  made:  By  the  old  method  a  petition  was  ad- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  27 

dressed  to  the  council.  This  was  referred  to  a  com- 
mittee, which  acted  when  convenient.  Then  a  re- 
port to  the  council  was  made  by  the  committee. 
After  the  action  of  the  council  it  went  to  the  mayor 
and  from  him  to  someone  else  for  execution.  The 
people  do  not  pay  their  taxes  for  such  treatment. 
They  want  their  business  attended  to  promptly  and 
that  is  what  is  being  done  under  the  commission." 

The  coming  July  the  commission  will  have  been 
in  existence  seven  years,  and  during  that  time  it  has 
accomplished  wonders.  In  1905  the  floating  debt 
of  the  city  was  about  $400,000.  Every  cent  of  that 
has  been  wiped  out  and  the  taxpayers  have  been 
given,  out  of  the  treasury,  without  the  issuance  of 
a  single  bond  for  any  one  of  the  items,  the  follow- 
ing permanent  improvements: 

City  Attorney,  Law  Library $  974.10 

Assessor  and  Collector,  Block  Book 

System 10,000.00 

City  Hall,  Furniture  and  Fixtures  1,123.67 

Police  Department 4,096.03 

Fire  Department  Buildings  and 

Equipments  66,239.67 

Electrical  Department  37,461.47 

Health  Department 7,340.94 

Parks 116,451.09 

Streets  and  Bridges 71,004.96 

Asphalt  Plant 3,000.00 

Auditorium 390,340.92 

Ship  Channel 102,536.05 

Sewers 132,047.56 


28  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Paving  Streets 221,006.00 

Water  Department,  Extension  of 

Mains  and  Improvements  ....  325,757.33 

Wharves  and  Slips 33,109.89 

School  Buildings   356,477.20 


Total  Improvements $1,878,966.88 

Extraordinary  Expenses. 

Storrie  Certificates   $  73,300.00 

Refund  Paving  Certificates 141,418.68 

Sinking  Fund 120,220.00 


$334,938.68 

This  makes  a  grand  total  of  $2,213,905.56,  all  of 
which  was  paid  out  of  current  revenues,  and  the 
elimination  of  a  floating  debt  amounting  to  a  little 
more  than  $400,000.  One  need  go  no  further  than 
those  figures  to  be  convinced  of  the  benefits  and  ad- 
vantages of  Commission  form  of  government. 

Unquestionably  the  magnificent  form  of  govern- 
ment that  Houston  has,  and  the  thoroughly  busi- 
ness-like manner  in  which  the  affairs  of  the  city  are 
administered,  have  had  their  effect  in  establishing 
confidence  in  the  stability  of  the  city  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  Though  the  commission  may  not  have 
caused  it,  the  fact  remains  that  co-incident  with  the 
establishment  of  the  commission  Houston  began  to 
grow  and  expand  in  the  most  marvelous  way. 
Strangers  who  come  here  and  find  a  large  and  beau- 
tiful city  are  amazed  to  learn  that  modern  Houston 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  29 

is  only  about  seven  years  old.  That  is  a  fact,  how- 
ever, for  all  the  great  strides  forward,  all  the  large 
corporations,  all  the  great  business  enterprises,  are 
less  than  ten  years  old,  while  the  city  has  more  than 
doubled  her  population  in  seven  years. 

Houston  is  today  a  city  of  skyscrapers  and  large 
buildings,  and  their  number  is  being  added  to 
monthly.  There  are  today  a  number  of  new  ones 
going  up  and  nearly  every  principal  street  in  the 
city  is  the  scene  of  building  activity.  There  are  ho- 
tels completed  and  being  constructed;  office  build- 
ings, business  buildings,  bank  buildings,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  the  hundreds  of  residences  being  constructed. 
Houston  stands  in  a  class  of  its  own  when  it  comes 
to  apartment  houses,  for  there  are  more  and  finer 
ones  here  than  in  any  other  Texas  city.  They  are 
nearly  all  strictly  up  to  date  and  several  of  them 
are  luxurious  and  costly  affairs. 

Just  what  Houston  is  doing  today  and  how  it  is 
being  done  is  well  shown  in  the  reports  made  by  the 
mayor  and  the  commissioners  and  heads  of  depart- 
ments at  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year,  February  29, 
1912.  Mayor  Rice  says: 

Gentlemen:  According  to  the  law,  I  submit  the 
annual  report  of  the  various  departments  and  the 
budget  for  the  ensuing  year. 

You  will  notice  that  the  appropriations  recom- 
mended and  the  budget  called  for  is  some  $200,000 
in  excess  of  last  year.  One-half  alone  being  in- 
crease of  the  interest  and  sinking  funds  on  bonds 
and  additional  school  appropriations. 


30  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

The  rapid  growth  of  the  city,  and  its  numerous 
requirements,  means  that  the  growth,  if  yearly 
maintained,  as  it  has  for  the  past  several  years,  the 
city  of  Houston  must  expend  annually  more  reve- 
nue to  maintain  in  efficiency  the  various  depart- 
ments and  satisfy  local  conditions. 

I  shall  briefly  discuss  the  important  demands  of 
the  city  and  make  recommendations  for  their  im- 
provements and  needs. 

The  water  department  is  in  splendid  condition 
and  with  the  extension  of  mains  this  year  will  prob- 
ably place  every  one  within  the  limits  of  the  city  of 
Houston  in  easy  access  of  pure  water  and  charging 
the  lowest  rate  for  consumption. 

Houston  has  an  efficient  and  up-to-date  fire  de- 
partment, and  but  for  the  unfortunate  fire  which 
occurred  in  the  manufacturing  district  on  the  north 
side  of  the  city  during  a  tremendous  gale,  would 
have  probably  maintained  the  smallest  loss  in  any 
one  year  since  Houston's  growth.  I  call  attention 
to  this  great  conflagration  from  a  commercial  stand- 
point, as  the  great  losses  from  the  immense  quanti- 
ties of  cotton  and  manufactories  destroyed  ran  into 
large  sums  of  money.  While  numerous  small  homes 
were  destroyed,  yet,  I  am  glad  to  state,  the  majority 
of  those  thus  afflicted  asked  for  no  assistance  and 
are  making  plans  to  reconstruct  their  homes  upon  a 
better  and  safer  basis. 

For  those  who  were  left  destitute,  too  much  praise 
can  not  be  given  to  the  United  Charities  and  the 
kind  citizens  who  came  forward  and  cheerfully  made 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  31 

subscriptions  for  relief.  Knowing  the  character  of 
people  who  make  up  this  community,  and  feeling 
confident  of  their  generosity  and  grit,  I,  as  mayor, 
declined  all  outside  help  and  subsequent  events 
justified  my  position.  While  deeply  grateful  for 
all  offers  of  aid  from  all  parts  of  the  country,  Hous- 
ton demonstrated  that  her  people  can  and  will  take 
care  of  almost  any  calamity  that  may  overtake  them. 
1  recommend  that  an  appropriation  of  $25,000  be 
made  for  a  new  fire  station  and  equipment  at  West- 
moreland station,  as  suggested  by  Fire  Commis- 
sioner Kohlhauff. 

I  call  your  attention  to  the  annual  report  of 
streets  and  bridges.  It  demonstrates  what  an  im- 
mense amount  of  work  and  expense  it  requires  to 
drain  and  make  passable  the  streets  in  a  level  coun- 
try like  ours.  A  great  viaduct  connecting  the  north 
and  south  sides  of  the  city  is  now  under  good  head- 
way and  promises  when  completed  to  be  one  of  the 
most  substantial  structures  in  the  State,  as  well  as 
giving  rapid  transportation  for  the  people.  Near- 
ly all  the  bridges  over  Buffalo  Bayou  are  out  of 
date  and  fail  to  properly  accommodate  the  traffic. 
I  recommend  that  the  bridges  at  San  Jacinto  and 
Preston  streets  be  removed  and  that  more  substan- 
tial bridges  be  constructed  out  of  reinforced  con- 
crete. I  also  recommend  that  a  reinforced  concrete 
bridge  be  built  over  Buffalo  Bayou  at  the  foot  of 
Texas  avenue,  which  will  relieve  congestion  of  traf- 
fic on  both  Washington  and  Preston  avenues. 


32  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Houston  avenue  viaduct,  now  being  constructed, 
will  give  immense  relief  to  that  section  of  the  city. 

During  the  past  year  $500,000  of  bonds  were 
voted  for  school  purposes,  and  several  school  houses 
will  be  constructed  during  the  fiscal  year,  which  will 
give  the  additional  facilities  that  are  so  badly  need- 
ed in  our  growing  city. 

Both  the  school  board  and  city  commissioners 
have  for  some  time  been  acquiring  additional  prop- 
erty for  school  sites  and  play  grounds  for  the  chil- 
dren, and  I  believe  in  the  near  future  that  Houston's 
schools  and  playgrounds  will  be  a  model  for  any 
city  to  copy. 

As  we  have  no  swimming  pools  for  boys  or  girls 
in  this  community,  upon  the  recommendation  of 
Mrs.  James  A.  Baker,  president  of  the  Settlement 
association,  who  is  taking  a  deep  interest  in  their 
welfare,  I  suggest  that  a  natitorium  be  constructed 
on  the  new  Rusk  school  site,  and  that  the  feature  be 
gradually  extended  to  every  other  school  in  this  city. 
I  think  Superintendent  Horn's  recommendation, 
that  all  public  schools  should  be  used  as  social  cen- 
ters, be  adopted.  These  school  grounds  and  build- 
ings cost  the  taxpayer  a  great  deal  of  money  and 
should  be  utilized  in  various  ways.  School  children 
are  dismissed  daily  at  3  p.  m.  and  there  is  no  reason 
after  that  time  why  the  immediate  neighborhood 
should  not  use  the  building  for  any  social  custom 
they  desire  without  going  to  the  expense  of  renting 
halls.  By  such  gatherings  in  a  public  building,  that 
they  have  helped  to  construct,  the  people  will  not 


PAUL  BREMOND 
Pioneer  Railway  Builder 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  33 

only  become  better  acquainted,  but  better  satisfied 
with  taxation. 

The  city  of  Houston  should  no  longer  wait  for  a 
park  system.  Land  is  becoming  dearer  every  year. 
While  the  city  has  purchased  additional  park 
ground  during  the  year,  yet  we  are  very  deficient  in 
this  respect.  We  have  a  splendid  board  of  park 
commissioners  and  I  recommend  that  the  city  of 
Houston  issue  at  least  $250,000  park  bonds  or  more 
this  year  in  order  to  secure  a  good  start  in  this  re- 
spect. 

Now  that  the  auditorium  is  completed  I  recom- 
mend that  it  be  used  for  the  best  interest  of  the 
community.  I  am  very  anxious  to  see  the  social 
conditions  of  our  people  improved,  especially  on 
Sundays.  On  the  first  of  May  next  Houston  will 
have  one  of  the  finest  bands  in  the  United  States. 
It  will  be  maintained  by  the  city.  Not  only  will 
there  be  instrumental  music,  but  some  of  the  best 
vocal  music  in  the  country. 

In  addition  to  the  musical  part  of  the  after- 
noons and  nights'  entertainments  on  Sunday  there 
can  be  secured  good,  wholesome  picture  shows,  lec- 
tures and  other  entertainments  that  will  tend  to  edu- 
cate the  people  and  make  them  happy  and  content- 
ed. All  these  entertainments  will  be  free  for  the 
people  and  especially  to  the  working  classes  will  this 
program  be  satisfactory,  as  they  can  enjoy  the  best 
music  and  best  lectures  at  absolutely  no  cost.  Once 
inaugurated  and  well  established,  I  believe  this 
work  of  our  city  government  will  go  a  long  ways  to- 


34  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

ward  exterminating  some  of  the  vicious  tendencies 
that  trouble  our  cities. 

This  government,  in  fulfilling  its  promises,  cre- 
ated a  public  service  department  last  year,  and  ap- 
pointed a  commissioner  for  that  purpose.  I  recom- 
mend that  every  citizen  read  Mr.  Gaston's  report 
and  know  what  has  been  accomplished. 

I  am  glad  to  state  that  the  efficiency  of  the  police 
department  is  gradually  being  raised,  and  I  trust  in 
the  near  future  that  it  will  be  up  to  the  standard. 

During  the  present  year  the  Somers  system  of 
taxation  has  been  established  in  Houston,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Commissioner  Pastoriza.  It  seems  to  be 
a  very  efficient  system,  just  and  equitable  to  all. 
The  tax  board  has  adopted  the  system  of  assessing 
land  values  at  90  per  cent  and  improvements  at  25 
per  cent  of  their  value.  Under  this  system  the  val- 
uations have  been  increased  from  $77,000,000  to 
$123,000,000,  which  is  very  great.  All  tax  prob- 
lems are  difficult,  and  very  few,  if  any,  are  satis- 
factory. I  would  suggest  that  the  citizens  thor- 
oughly investigate  this  system  and  understand  it. 
If  it  is  satisfactory,  so  much  the  better ;  if  not,  then 
some  better  plan  should  be  proposed.  The  city  coun- 
cil will  not  be  arbitrary,  but  will  be  glad  to  listen  to 
any  one  or  all  citizens  upon  this  subject.  Last  year 
the  tax  rate  was  $1.70  per  $100.  This  year  it  has 
been  reduced  to  $1.30  per  hundred  for  all  purposes, 
being  the  lowest  rate  of  any  large  city  in  the  State. 

With  the  exception  of  a  few  cases  of  meningitis, 
which  have  existed  in  Houston  for  the  past  several 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  35 

months,  the  health  of  this  community  has  been  splen- 
did. Too  much  praise  can  not  be  given  our  health 
officer,  Dr.  G.  W.  Larendon,  and  specialist,  Dr. 
F.  J.  Slataper,  and  their  associates  for  the  way  the 
health  department  has  been  managed.  On  account 
of  the  amount  of  work  and  the  risks  that  these  gen- 
tlemen are  required  to  run  I  am  decidedly  in  favor 
of  increasing  their  respective  salaries. 

Now  that  the  national  government  will  soon  com- 
mence work  upon  our  waterway,  I  suggest  that 
the  city  acquire  more  territory  at  the  turning  basin. 
1  suggest  steps  be  taken  to  condemn  all  land  that 
is  needed  for  practical  purposes,  and  also  that  the 
city  of  Houston  build  and  maintain  a  modern 
dredgeboat  on  the  channel. 

The  city  has  recently  adopted  a  front-foot  plan 
of  pavement.  It  is  a  great  step  forward  in  progress 
and  means  that  Houston  will  now  go  forward  with 
rapid  strides.  Already  petitions  have  been  placed 
with  the  council  for  over  ten  miles  of  pavement. 
I  caution  the  people  that  no  permanent  pavement 
should  be  made  until  all  water,  gas  and  sewer  mains 
are  first  laid.  I  earnestly  recommend  that  a  million 
dollars  be  issued  in  bonds  for  sanitary  and  storm 
sewers  alone. 

A  short  time  paving  bond  can  be  issued,  redeem- 
able at  the  rate  of,  say,  $200,000  per  year,  which 
will  give  immediate  relief  in  regard  to  the  pave- 
ments and  not  increase  the  bonded  indebtedness. 

The  city  needs  a  city  jail  and  additional  fire- 
proof rooms  to  the  city  hall  to  preserve  city  records. 


36  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

I  recommend  that  an  annex  to  the  city  hall  be  con- 
structed to  care  for  all  these  various  features. 
Thanking  you  for  your  hearty  co-operation,  I  am, 

Respectfully, 

H.  B.  RICE. 

An  idea  of  what  it  costs  to  run  a  big  city  like 
Houston  may  be  formed  from  the  following  recom- 
mendations, made  by  the  mayor,  for  the  coming 
year: 

Mayor  and  commissioners $  13,600 

Controller  and  secretary 7,500 

Law  department 12,000 

Treasurer 620 

Assessor  and  collector 18,000 

City  Hall 4,000 

Elections    1,000 

Damages    1,000 

Interest  on  bonds 265,000 

Sinking  fund 140,000 

Miscellaneous  expenses 15,000 

Electric  lights 50,000 

Police   110,000 

Corporation  court 2,500 

Fire  department 125,000 

Health  department 25,000 

Scavenger  department 13,000 

Electrical  department 8,000 

City  engineer    20,000 

Streets  and  bridges 100,000 

Repair  of  shell  and  gravel  streets. . .  25,000 

Sewer  department 25,000 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  37 

Garbage  department   25,000 

Market 7,000 

Schools   210,000 

Parks    10,000 

Carnegie  library  10,000 

Refunding  certificates 21,000 

Buffalo  Bayou 5,000 

Mayor's  emergency  fund 1,000 

Westmoreland  fire  station  and  equip- 
ment     25,000 

Water  Department— 

General  expenses   $  80,000 

Interest    55,000 

Sinking  fund    28,000 


Total   $1,458,220 

Perhaps  more  interest  attaches  to  the  report  of 
City  Tax  Commissioner  J.  J.  Pastoriza  this  year 
than  to  any  of  the  others,  because  of  some  radical 
changes  that  have  been  made  in  methods  of  taxation 
during  the  year  just  closed. 

He  states  in  his  report  that  in  the  beginning  of 
1911  the  city  officials  were  confronted  with  the  ne- 
cessity of  raising  the  assessment  over  $12,000,000 
to  produce  the  additional  revenue  needed.  He  says 
that  while  the  work  for  1911  was  fairly  well  done, 
the  experience  gained  has  convinced  him  of  the  ne- 
cessity of  a  scientific  plan  of  assessment.  TheSomers 
system  largely  solved  the  problem  with  its  system  of 
equalizing  the  value  by  a  mathematical  rule  for  cal- 
culation. A  contract  was  entered  into  with  the  Man- 


38  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

uf  acturers'  Appraisal  Company  of  Cleveland  to  in- 
stall the  system  and  for  the  past  four  months  that 
work  has  been  in  progress. 

In  his  report  Commissioner  Pastoriza  says:  "The 
application  of  the  Somers  system  has  revealed  the 
fact  that  portions  of  many  streets  of  Houston,  some 
of  them  of  exceeding  value,  are  being  used  by  indi- 
vidual citizens  and  corporations  without  bringing 
the  city  any  rental  or  compensation  whatever,  and  I 
recommend  therefore  that  I  be  given  authority  to 
immediately  institute  suits  to  recover  this  valuable 
property  for  the  city  and  to  have  removed  such 
buildings  or  other  obstructions  as  now  occupy  them. 

"I  also  discovered  that  the  area  of  many  pieces  of 
land  were  not  accurately  stated  upon  the  block 
maps.  There  was  not  sufficient  time  to  enable  me 
to  have  these  lands  surveyed  for  the  1912  assess- 
ment, and  I  ask  to  be  given  authority  to  have  these 
lands  surveyed  and  that  the  engineering  department 
be  instructed  to  place  at  my  disposal  such  help  as 
is  necessary  to  do  this  work  without  interruption 
and  with  the  least  delay  possible." 

The  report  shows  that  the  tax  rate  was  reduced 
from  $1.70  in  1910  to  $1.30  on  the  $100  in  1911. 

"To  the  average  mind  this  might  indicate  a  re- 
duction in  the  rate  of  taxation,"  explains  Commis- 
sioner Pastoriza  in  his  report,  "but  Houston  is  a 
growing  city,  growing  at  a  rate  which  few  people 
realize,  and  the  ever  increasing  need  for  street  pav- 
ing, drainage,  sewers,  extension  of  water  mains, 
schools  and  playgrounds,  for  police  and  fire  pro- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  39 

tection  and  a  hundred  and  one  improvements  not 
enumerated,  calls  for  an  ever  increasing  revenue. 

"In  conclusion  permit  me  to  say  that  we  do  not 
claim  our  values  are  absolutely  correct,  but  we  do 
claim  that  they  have  been  equalized  as  nearly  as  is 
possible,  and  that  if  our  valuation  of  any  particular 
piece  of  property  in  a  block  is  considered  too  high, 
at  least  everybody  else  in  that  block  and  in  the  block 
across  the  street  will  be  equally  high;  if  we  are  low, 
everybody  in  that  block  and  across  the  street  will 
be  equally  low  and  there  will  be  no  discrimination. 
We  have  learned  that  it  is  not  so  much  a  question  in 
the  mind  of  a  taxpayer  whether  our  values  are  too 
high  or  too  low,  so  long  as  we  assess  everybody  the 
same,  and  only  make  the  rate  high  enough  to  give 
the  administration  sufficient  money  to  economically 
administer  its  affairs." 

The  report  compiled  by  Building  Inspector  W. 
X.  Norris  shows  that  during  the  last  fiscal  year  of 
the  city  permits  were  issued  out  of  his  office  for  the 
construction  of  1101  buildings  of  all  kinds  at  an  ag- 
gregate cost  of  $3,997,000.  The  permits  issued  dur- 
ing the  previous  fiscal  year  reached  an  aggregate 
of  $3,152,820.  Besides  the  permanent  improve- 
ments permits  were  also  issued  last  year  for  tem- 
porary work,  aggregating  $281,375,  as  against 
temporary  work  amounting  to  $189,270  during  the 
previous  year. 

In  his  report  the  building  inspector  recommends 
that  the  electric  sign  ordinance  be  revised  so  as  to 


40 


A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  or 


provide  for  all  electric  signs  to  be  hung  vertical  with 
the  building. 

The  permits  issued  by  the  building  inspector  have 
been  classified  by  him  in  the  following  manner: 


No.  of 
Permits. 


Kind  of  Building. 


No.  of 
Bldgs. 

1 


18-story  fireproof  hotel 

1         10-story  fireproof  hotel 1 

1  7-story  fireproof  office  building. .  1 

1         6-story  fireproof  hotel 1 

1  6-story  fireproof  office  building. .  1 

1  4-story  fireproof  building 1 

2  3-story  fireproof  buildings 2 

1  3-story   brick   hotel   and   theatre 

building 1 

2  3-story  brick  flats  2 

4  3-story  brick  buildings 4 

1         3-story  brick  warehouse 

1         3-story  brick  office  building 1 

1  3-story  concrete  building  and  re- 

modeling   

5  2-story  brick  warehouses 5 

2  2-story  brick  flats 2 

2  2-story  brick  stores 2 

1         2-story  brick  office  building 

5        2-story  brick  buildings 5 

3  2-story  brick  residences 3 

1         2-story  concrete  building 

1         2-story  concrete  warehouse 

3        2-story  frame  apartments 3 

5  2-story  wood  warehouses 5 

1         2-story  stucco  residence 1 

247        2-story  frame  residences 262 

1         Brick  church 

6  1-story  brick  buildings 6 

1  1 -story  brick  office  and  car  shed.  1 

2  1 -story  brick  warehouses 2 

2  1 -story  brick  buildings  (not  built)  1 
1  1 -story  cement  block  building. . . . 

3  Frame  churches 3 

1        Frame  club  house 1 


Valuation. 

$500,000 

195,000 

150,000 

70,000 

135,000 

150,000 

117,000 

65,000 

31,300 

126,500 

4,500 

14,000 

60,000 

61,000 

32,000 

9,000 

33,000 

36,300 

87,500 

40,000 

14,000 

22,000 

59,350 

16,000 

811,985 

56,000 

37,100 

20,000 

12,000 

8,000 

3,000 

4,650 

2,500 


WM.  R.  BAKER 

Financier  and  Railway  Builder 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  41 

589        Cottages 748  576,235 

18        Iron  and  frame  farehouses 19  34,040 

Open  air  theatre 1  4,000 

Automobile  garage   1  500 

Fireproof  addition  1  14,900 

Storage  oil  tank 1  5,000 

Oil  plant 1  10,650 

Bread  plant  1  16,500 

Viaduct 1  350,000 

2        Remodeling 2  47,500 

926                                                              1101  $3,997,010 


Valuation  of  926  permits,  year  ending  Feb.  29, 
1912 $3,997,010 

Valuation  of  868  permits,  year  ending  Feb.  28, 
1911  .  3,152,820 


Increase  in  value,  year  ending  Feb.  29,  1912. .    $844,190 


Valuation,  temporary  permits,  year  ending  Feb. 

29,  1912 $281,375 

Valuation,  temporary  permits,  year  ending  Feb. 

28,  1911  189,270 


Increase  for  year  ending  Feb.  29,  1912,  over 
1911  .  $92,105 


Total  value  permanent  and  temporary  for  year 
ending  1912  $4,278,385 

Total  value  permanent  and  temporary  for  year 
1911 3,342,090 


Increase  in  last  12  months  over  previous  12 
months $936,295 


42  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

The  following  is  a  list  of  Houston's  Mayors.  The 
list  is  the  one  prepared  by  Major  Roberts,  though, 
for  reasons  given  in  the  foregoing,  Mr.  Holman  is 
not  placed  at  the  head: 

1838 — Dr.  Francis  Moore,  Jr. 

1839— G.  W.  Lively. 

1840— Charles  Biglow. 
1841-42— J.  D.  Andrews. 

1843 — Dr.  Francis  Moore,  Jr. 

1844 — Horace  Baldwin. 

1845— W.  W.  Swain. 

1846 — Jas.  Bailey. 
1847-48— P.  B.  Buckner. 
1849-52— Dr.  Francis  Moore,  Jr. 
1853-54— Col.  Nathan  Fuller. 
1855-56 — Jas.  H.  Stevens. 

1857 — Cornelius  Ennis. 

1858 — A.  McGowan. 

1859— W.  H.  King. 

1860— T.  W.  Whitmarsh. 

1861— W.  J.  Hutchins. 

1862— T.  W.  House. 
1863-64-65 — William  Andrews. 

1866— H.  D.  Taylor. 

1867— A.  McGowan. 

1868— J.  R.  Morris. 
1870-73— T.  J.  Scanlan. 

1874— J.  T.  D.  Wilson. 
1875-76—1.  C.  Lord. 
1877-78— J.  T.  D.  Wilson. 

1879— A.  J.  Burke. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  43 

1880-84— W.  R.  Baker. 
1886-88— D.  C.  Smith. 

1890— Henry  Scherffius. 
1892-04— John  T.  Browne. 

1896— H.  Baldwin  Rice. 
1898-1900— Sam  H.  Brashear. 

1902— O.  T.  Holt. 

1904 — Andrew  L.  Jackson. 
1905-12— H.  Baldwin  Rice. 


CHAPTER  TWO. 

Some  Early  Buildings — Fall  of  the  First  Hotel — 
First  Brick  Buildings — Public  Buildings — The 
Peripatetic  Postoffice — Early  Fire  Companies — 
History  of  Early  Bridges. 

When  one  reads  over  the  names  of  the  early 
Houstonians,  it  is  almost  like  reading  an  early  joint 
directory  of  Houston  and  Galveston,  for  in  the 
forties  many  of  the  men  who  aided  in  establishing 
Houston  were  also  instrumental  in  building  up  Gal- 
veston and  their  names  became  inseparable  from  the 
history  of  the  two  places.  General  E.  B.  Nichols 
was,  after  the  fifties,  one  of  the  most  progressive 
citizens  of  Galveston,  but  to  that  time  he  was  one 
of  the  pioneer  workers  in  Houston.  In  the  case  of 
Mr.  B,  A.  Shepherd,  conditions  were  reversed,  for 
he  was  first  a  citizen  of  Galveston  and  then  of 
Houston.  Gail  Borden,  who  surveyed  the  city  of 
Houston  and  made  the  first  map  of  the  new  city, 
was  for  years  a  resident  of  Houston  and  then  re- 
moved to  Galveston,  where  he  became  one  of  the 
most  enthusiastic  citizens  there  and  prophesied 
most  of  the  great  things  that  have  been  accom- 
plished by  that  city. 

The  first  frame  house  in  Houston  was  a  small  af- 
fair erected  by  the  Torrey  brothers  who  used  it  as 
a  trading  post  for  Indians.  It  was  located  on  the 
north  side  of  Preston  near  what  is  now  the  east  end 
of  Preston  street  bridge.  It  was  afterwards  pur- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  45 

chased  by  Mr.  H.  D.  Taylor  and  used  by  him  as 
a  residence  for  many  years.  It  was  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  and  attractive  places  in  Houston,  for  it 
was  in  the  midst  of  a  grove  of  magnificent  magnolia 
trees. 

On  the  south  side  of  Preston  and  on  the  east  side 
of  Smith  there  was  a  single  room  board  house,  erect- 
ed about  the  same  time  as  the  Indian  trading  post. 
This  was  purchased  by  Col.  N.  Fuller,  in  1837,  and 
he  added  other  rooms  to  it  and  built  the  residence 
which  he  occupied  until  the  day  of  his  death.  That 
and  the  residence  erected  by  Mr.  A.  C.  Briscoe  on 
Main  and  Prairie  were  unquestionably  the  first  two- 
story  houses  erected  in  Houston,  and  both  were 
built  in  1837,  the  year  after  the  founding  of  Hous- 
ton. An  item  of  interest  is  that  when  the  Fuller 
residence  was  torn  down  a  year  or  two  ago  to  make 
place  for  the  great  brick  building  that  now  occupies 
its  site,  the  old  and  original  beams  and  rafters  were 
found  to  be  in  perfect  preservation  and  resembled 
steel  beams  more  than  wooden  ones.  It  was  with 
difficulty  that  they  were  torn  apart,  showing  how 
thorough  and  honest  were  the  early  Houston 
builders. 

Th^  year  1837  also  witnessed  the  erection  of  the 
first  large  warehouse  in  Houston.  This  was  located 
on  the  northeast  corner  of  Main  and  Commerce 
streets  and  was  built  by  Mr.  Thomas  Elsberry.  It 
was  in  this  building  that  Messrs.  Allen  and  Pool 
did  business  for  many  years,  and  it  was  there  also 
that  some  of  the  great  financiers  of  Houston  had 


46  A  THUMB-]\TAIL  HISTORY  OF 

their  early  training.  Mr.  Doswell  and  Mr.  Wm.  R. 
Baker  had  their  first  experience  as  business  men 
there,  and  others  of  less  prominence  worked  for  Al- 
len and  Pool  from  time  to  time.  All  the  early  cotton 
crops  of  Texas  passed  through  that  old  building, 
for  it  was  the  only  cotton  warehouse  here  and  its 
location  was  ideal  for  conditions  as  they  prevailed 
then.  The  building  fronted  on  Commerce  street  and 
extended  back  to  the  crude  wharf  of  that  day.  The 
bales  were  simply  tumbled  out  of  the  back  door  and 
landed  near  the  steamboat,  on  which  they  were 
rolled  by  negro  deck  hands.  Transportation  by 
water  was  the  only  way  to  reach  the  markets  of  the 
world,  and  the  bayou  was  of  far  more  practical  im- 
portance then  than  it  has  since  become. 

While  the  carpenters  were  erecting  the  Allen  and 
Pool  warehouse,  workmen  were  busily  engaged  in 
hewing  logs  for  the  building  of  Houston's  first  ho- 
tel, which  was  erected  on  the  corner  of  Franklin 
and  Travis,  where  the  Southern  Pacific  offices  now 
stand. 

It  was  built  by  Major  Ben  Fort  Smith,  one  of 
the  Texas  pioneers,  and  its  first  proprietor  was  Mr. 
George  Wilson,  father  of  Mr.  Ed  Wilson,  who  is 
still  an  honored  citizen  of  Houston.  This  old  house 
stood  for  nearly  twenty  years  and  then,  in  1855,  it 
fell  down  through  old  age  and  decay.  In  the  Hous- 
ton Telegraph  of  May  16,  1855,  is  an  interesting 
account  of  its  fall,  and  some  still  more  interesting 
reminiscences  connected  with  the  old  building.  "It 
had  been  in  its  day  the  hotel  par  excellence  of  the 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  47 

Capitol  and  commercial  metropolis  of  the  glorious 
old  Republic  of  Texas,"  said  the  Telegraph.  "The 
President  and  his  cabinet  and  the  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives and  officials  of  the  first  and  second 
Congresses  had  dined  there  and  so,  too,  had  foreign 
ministers." 

"Rusk,  who  was  a  great  man  before  the  Republic, 
was  once  glorified  at  its  tables  with  a  sacrifice  of 
good  things — fowls  at  $6  a  pair,  butter  at  $1  per 
pound,  eggs  at  $3  per  dozen  and  champagne  at  a 
fabulous  price  per  bottle.  It  has  been  said  that  the 
dinner  was  planned  to  encourage  a  reconciliation 
between  Rusk  and  Houston,  and  that  it  was  so  far 
successful  that  Rusk,  in  toasting  Houston,  his  old 
opponent,  said:  'Houston,  with  all  thy  faults  I  love 
thee  still/  " 

"Texas  had  great  men  in  those  days  and  their 
name  was  legion.  It  was  an  insult  to  take  a  man  for 
anything  but  great,  brave,  chivalrous  and  even  rich. 
Everybody  was  rich,  or  in  the  army  or  navy  or  pub- 
lic service,  which  was  the  same  thing.  The  City  Ho- 
tel had  a  barroom,  one  of  perhaps  twenty  that  flour- 
ished in  the  town,  where  steam  was  kept  up  at  the 
explosion  point,  and  the  collapse  of  a  decanter, 
pitcher  or  tumbler,  as  it  came  in  contact  with  the 
brains  of  some  unlucky  devotee  of  the  shrine  of 
chivalry  or  bravado,  or  the  kindred  virtues  usually 
worshipped  'when  the  wine  was  red  in  the  cup,'  was 
no  uncommon  occurrence.  Those  were  the  days  of 
duels,  bowie  knives  and  pistols,  poker,  keno  and 
faro,  when  ten,  twenty  or  fifty  thousand  dollars 


48  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

would  be  lost  and  won  in  a  night.  Texas  was  the 
prophesy  of  California  and  Houston  a  very  San 
Francisco.  No  mines  were  dug,  but  gold  was  plenty 
and  men  managed  to  live  without  sweating  their 
brows.  If  a  man  worked  at  all  he  earned  from  $8 
to  $10  a  day,  but  precious  few  worked  at  all.  Buck 
Peters  and  Jeff  Wright  were  the  practical  jokers. 
Judge  Shelby  was  on  the  bench  and  was  indicted 
by  his  own  grand  jury  for  playing  backgammon 
with  his  wife.  Gus  Tompkins,  fertile  in  expedient, 
but  fractious,  with  his  big  brain  and  little  body,  was 
a  terror  to  evil-doers.  Felix  Huston  commanded  the 
turbulent  army,  Commodore  [Moore  had  not  come 
to  Texas  then,  and  the  navy  was  divided  with  sev- 
eral competent  but  less  ambitious  commanders,  not 
less  distinguished  among  them  was  our  old  friend 
Boots  Taylor,  a  very  Chesterfield  in  manners. 
Carnes  and  Teel  and  Morehouse  and  Deaf  Smith 
lived  in  those  times  with  a  host  of  other  noble  spir- 
its whose  lights  have  long  since  gone  out." 

"We  notice  a  few  survivors  of  those  glorious  days 
still  among  us.  Col.  Frank  Johnson,  one  of  the  he- 
roes of  the  storming  of  San  Antonio,  and  the  sur- 
render of  the  Mexican  garrison  under  Cos,  sat  with 
us  on  a  log  under  the  very  eaves  of  the  old  build- 
ing the  day  before  it  fell,  and  with  him  another  sur- 
vivor, Honest  Bob  Wilson,  who  was  expelled  from 
the  Senate  of  the  old  Republic,  but  was  re-elected 
and  borne  back  in  triumph  upon  the  shoulders  by 
an  indignant  people  to  the  Capitol." 

During  1837-38-39  there  were  a  great  number 


EX-MAYOR  H.  D.  TAYLOR 
Pioneer  Merchant  and  Cotton  Man 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  49 

of  houses  erected  in  Houston,  but  they  were  all 
wooden  structures  or  primitive  log  cabins.  Not  until 
nine  years  after  the  town  was  established  was  there 
a  brick  building  put  up.  During  the  year  1845  Mr. 
Cornelius  Ennis  and  General  E.  B.  Nichols  erected 
two  brick  buildings  on  the  east  side  of  Main  street, 
between  Congress  and  Commerce  avenues.  One  was 
where  the  Western  Union  Telegraph  Office  now  is 
and  the  other  was  where  the  Converse  building  is 
located. 

Seven  years  later,  in  1852,  Mr.  Paul  Bremond 
erected  a  brick  building  and  the  next  year  Mr.  B. 
A.  Shepherd  erected  his  bank  building  on  the  corner 
of  Main  and  Congress,  across  the  street  from  the 
present  magnificent  Union  Bank  building. 

All  these  first  brick  buildings  were  small  two- 
story  affairs,  and  as  small  as  they  were  they  seem 
to  have  been  ahead  of  the  time  for  in  most  of  them 
the  second  stories  were  used  only  as  lumber  rooms. 

On  March  10,  1859,  the  first  note  of  Houston's 
real  progress  was  sounded  by  the  fire  bell.  At  the 
time  it  was  regarded  as  a  great  disaster,  and  from  a 
money  point  of  view  it  was  something  of  the  kind, 
since  the  loss  was  placed  at  about  $300,000,  with 
little  or  no  insurance.  A  great  fire  broke  out  at  mid- 
night on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Congress,  and 
raged  for  eight  hours.  All  the  block  on  the  west 
side  of  Main  between  Preston  and  Congress  was 
destroyed  and  half  of  the  block  on  the  opposite  side 
of  Main  was  also  consumed.  These  houses  were 


SO  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  or 

wooden  shanties  and  their  destruction  was  the  best 
thing  that  could  have  happened. 

Almost  before  the  ground  grew  cold  again  work- 
men were  busy  digging  trenches  for  foundations, 
and  in  a  short  time  several  really  fine  brick  buildings 
were  erected.  Mr.  Wm.  Van  Alstyne,  father  of  Mr. 
A.  A.  Van  Alstyne,  now  of  Galveston,  had  the 
honor  of  erecting  the  first  three-story  building  in 
Houston.  It  was  a  very  attractive  building  and 
stood  on  the  corner  of  Main  and  Congress,  directly 
opposite  the  present  Krupp  and  Tuf fly  building. 
But  Mr.  J.  R.  Morris  out-did  Mr.  Van  Alstyne,  for 
he  put  up  a  four-story  iron-front  building,  not  only 
the  first  of  its  kind  in  Houston,  but  the  first  ever 
erected  in  Texas.  The  building  was  in  the  middle 
of  the  block  on  the  east  side  of  Main,  between  Pres- 
ton and  Congress  avenues. 

It  was  not  a  fire,  or  disaster  of  any  kind,  that 
gave  Houston  its  first  great  hotel.  During  the 
same  year  that  the  Van  Alstyne  and  Morris  build- 
ings were  erected,  Col.  Wm.  J.  Hutchins  began  the 
erection  of  a  large  four-story  hotel  built  of  brick, 
on  the  historic  site  of  Houston's  first  hotel.  This 
was  the  famous  Hutchins  House,  made  famous  by 
the  fact  that  most  of  the  State  associations,  societies 
and  many  of  the  large  commercial  enterprises  had 
their  inception  in  its  parlors. 

To  that  time  and  ever  since  1837,  when  the  State 
Capitol  building  was  erected,  which  was  later  the 
Old  Capitol  Hotel,  it  had  been  Houston's  chief  ho- 
tel. This  was  a  rather  commodious  frame  building, 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  51 

two-stories  in  height,  and  stood  on  the  site  where 
the  new  18-story  Rice  Hotel  is  now  being  erected, 
corner  of  Main  and  Texas  avenue.  The  Hutchins 
House  was  not  completed  until  after  the  war;  that 
is,  not  completely  so,  and  there  was  a  long  delay 
before  it  could  be  used  for  the  purpose  for  which 
it  was  designed.  This  historic  house  was  burned 
down  several  years  ago  and  the  ground  was  allowed 
to  remain  vacant  until  1911  when  it  was  purchased 
by  the  Southern  Pacific  railroad  and  the  present 
magnificent  office  building  of  that  road  was  erect- 
ed on  it. 

During  1859  and  1860  Houston  had  something 
of  a  building  boom  and  a  great  many  really  preten- 
tious (for  that  day)  buildings  were  erected  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  city.  One  or  two  rather  extensive 
fires  occurred  about  that  time,  which  cleared  the 
ground  of  wooden  shacks  and  enabled  the  owners 
to  build  more  substantial  houses,  which  they  did. 

During  and  for  some  years  after  the  war  there 
was  very  little  in  the  way  of  improvements.  During 
the  war  it  was  impossible  to  do  much  and  after  peace 
had  been  declared  the  people  were  too  poor  to  do 
anything  that  was  not  absolutely  imperative.  The 
skyline  of  Houston,  therefore,  underwent  no 
changes  until  1894,  when  Jacob  Binz  erected  the 
first  sky*  Draper  in  Houston.  This  building  is  still 
standing  and  though  there  are  many  others  that 
tower  high  above  it,  it  is  justly  considered  one  of 
the  most  useful  and  substantial  buildings  of  its  class 
in  Houston.  This  building  occupies  one  of  the  his- 


52  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  or 

toric  sites  of  the  city,  for  it  stands  where  the  first 
Land  Office  of  the  Republic  was  situated,  when 
Houston  was  the  Capital  of  Texas.  Its  erection 
marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  for  Houston 
architecturally,  for  it  was  the  introduction  of  the 
modern  skyscraper,  buildings  for  which  Houston 
has  since  grown  famous. 

Today  Houston  has  more  skyscrapers  than  any 
city  in  Texas  and  their  number  is  being  constantly 
added  to. 

PUBLIC  BUILDINGS. 

The  first  public  buildings  in  Houston  were  the 
Count}7  courthouse  and  the  County  jail,  erected  in 
1838  by  Harrisburg  county,  as  Harris  county  was 
then  called.  They  were  both  primitive  in  every  sense 
of  the  word.  The  courthouse  was  a  double  log  cabin, 
with  a  broad  passage  between  the  two  rooms,  such 
a  building  as  is  still  occasionally  seen  on  old  planta- 
tions. The  rooms  were  each  sixteen  feet  square,  the 
court  being  in  one  room  and  the  clerk's  office  in  the 
other.  The  jail  was  something  of  a  curiosity,  being 
simply  a  square  log  box  having  neither  doors  nor 
windows.  There  was  but  one  opening,  that  being  a 
trap-door  at  the  top.  Access  to  the  jail  was  through 
this  trap  door.  A  prisoner  was  taken  to  the  roof  by 
means  of  a  ladder.  The  ladder  was  then  drawn  up 
and  lowered  into  the  jail.  The  prisoner  descended 
and  then  the  ladder  was  drawn  up  and  the  trap  shut. 
It  was  all  very  simple,  but  very  cumbersome  as  well. 

Both  the  jail  and  courthouse  were  located  on  the 
Congress  avenue  side  of  courthouse  square,  near  the 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  S3 

Fannin  street  corner.  They  answered  very  well  for 
the  court  needs  of  that  day,  but  the  city  and  county 
soon  outgrew  them  and  it  became  necessary  to  pro- 
vide better  and  more  commodious  quarters.  The 
city  having  constructed  the  old  market  house  and 
provided  quite  a  commodious  city  lock-up  or  cala- 
boose, the  county  solved  the  jail  problem  by  making 
a  contract  with  the  city  whereby  the  county  was  al- 
lowed to  make  use  of  the  city  prison  as  a  county  jail. 
The  old  log  courthouse  was  still  used,  however,  until 
1850,  when  it  was  torn  down  and  the  first  brick 
courthouse  was  erected.  The  building  was  placed 
almost  in  the  center  of  the  block,  but  a  little  to  the 
Congress  side.  It  was  a  two-story  brick  building, 
cost  $15,000,  and  was  regarded  as  the  finest  build- 
ing in  the  country  by  the  early  Houstonians. 

Owing  to  poor  material,  faulty  construction  or 
some  other  cause,  this  first  courthouse  did  not  stand 
long.  Its  walls  cracked  so  badly  and  it  showed  such 
evidence  of  decay  that  nine  years  after  its  erection 
it  was  condemned  and  torn  down  to  make  way  for 
a  second  brick  building. 

The  second  brick  courthouse  was  erected  in  1859. 
This  was  a  much  larger  and  more  expensive  build- 
ing than  its  predecessor.  It  was  placed  on  the  north 
side  of  the  square,  fronting  Congress  avenue.  It 
was  really  a  three-story  building  for  it  had  a  large 
basement,  which  was  used  for  offices  by  some  of  the 
county  officials.  The  other  county  officials  were 
located  on  the  second  floor,  while  the  third  floor  was 
used  entirely  for  court  purposes,  there  being  two 


54  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

large  court  rooms.  During  the  war  the  basement 
was  fixed  up  for  a  guard-house,  iron  bars  were 
placed  in  the  windows  and  doors  and  at  various 
times  prisoners  of  war,  captured  at  Galveston  and 
Sabine  Pass,  were  confined  there.  It  was  not  used 
permanently  for  that  purpose,  however. 

Ten  years  after  it  was  built,  this  building  also  be- 
gan to  crumble  and  in  1869  it  was  torn  down  and 
another  larger  building  was  erected  almost  on  the 
same  site,  only  a  little  further  back  from  Congress 
Avenue.  This  courthouse  was  an  improvement  over 
those  that  had  preceded  it  and  was  also  more  sub- 
stantially constructed,  for  it  stood  thirteen  years. 
In  1882  it  was  somewhat  damaged  by  a  wind  storm, 
and,  being  rather  dilapidated  in  every  way,  the 
County  Commissioners  decided  to  tear  it  down  and 
erect  a  new  and  finer  building.  There  was  a  great 
deal  of  friction  between  the  members  of  the  court 
over  plans  and  financial  matters,  but  finally  every- 
thing was  amicably  settled  and  the  courthouse  was 
built  in  1883.  The  new  building  was  much  more 
pretentious  than  any  of  the  others  that  had  preceded 
it  and  it  was  evidently  better  constructed  for  it 
served  the  purpose  for  which  it  had  been  construct- 
ed from  1883  until  1907,  or  almost  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  In  1707  a  special  election  was  held  and  an 
issue  of  $500,000  of  bonds  was  authorized  for  the 
purpose  of  building  a  courthouse  in  every  way 
worthy  of  the  great  County  of  Harris  and  the  great 
City  of  Houston.  The  bonds  were  issued  and  the 
present  magnificent  courthouse  was  erected.  It  is 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  55 

one  of  the  finest  buildings  of  its  kind  in  the  South 
and  would  be  a  credit  to  a  city  fives  times  the  pop- 
ulation of  Houston. 

Mr.  O.  L.  Cochran,  who  has  the  distinction  of  be- 
ing the  oldest  citizen  of  Houston,  and  who  for  many 
years  was  the  postmaster  here,  furnishes  the  follow- 
ing information  about  the  early  locations  of  the 
Houston  Postof  f  ice :  During  the  days  of  the  Texas 
Republic  it  was  located  on  the  west  side  of  Main 
street,  about  the  middle  of  the  block  between  Pres- 
ton and  Congress  avenues.  After  Texas  became  a 
State  of  the  Union,  in  1845,  the  office  was  removed 
to  the  old  hotel,  corner  of  Franklin  avenue  and 
Travis  street.  It  was  then  removed  to  Dr.  Hull's 
drug  store,  corner  of  Preston  and  Main,  the  site  of 
the  present  Fox  building.  Then  it  was  removed  to 
courthouse  square  and  located  on  the  northeast  cor- 
ner of  Congress  avenue  and  Fannin  street.  It  re- 
mained here  for  many  years  and  then  was  removed 
just  across  the  street  to  the  northwest  corner  of  Con- 
gress and  Fannin.  The  next  move  was  to  the  rear 
of  the  Fox  building  on  the  north  side  of  Preston. 
Then  it  was  taken  to  the  Miller  building  on  the 
northwest  corner  of  Fannin  and  Preston.  Its  stay 
here  was  not  long  and  its  next  move  was  to  the  Tay- 
lor building  on  the  southwest  corner  of  Preston  and 
San  Jacinto.  It  remained  in  the  Taylor  building 
until  1890,  when  the  Government  purchased  the 
southeast  corner  of  Franklin  and  Fannin  and  erect- 
ed its  own  building  there.  That  building  was  be- 
hind the  times  and  Houston  grew  so  rapidly  that 


56  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

by  the  time  it  was  completed,  sub-stations  had  to  be 
established  to  handle  the  business. 

In  1903  the  Government  purchased  the  block  in 
front  of  the  High  School  and  erected  on  it  the  pres- 
ent fine  building,  which  was  completed  only  a  few 
months  ago.  Although  the  building  is  very  large 
and  thoroughly  equipped,  Houston  has  again  out- 
grown it,  and  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  retain 
the  old  building,  which  is  to  be  remodeled,  improved 
and  used  as  a  sub-station. 

As  told  elsewhere,  Houston's  first  market  house 
was  erected  in  1840  and  stood  until  1871,  when  it 
was  torn  down  to  make  place  for  the  great  brick 
market  erected  at  such  immense  cost  to  the  tax- 
payers by  the  scalawag  reconstruction  city  adminis- 
tration. This  famous  building  was  destroyed  by  fire 
in  1876  and  one  similar  to  it  wras  built  on  the  same 
site,  though  at  a  much  less  cost.  In  fact,  the  new 
building  cost  only  about  $80,000,  while  the  old  one 
cost  $470,000.  This  new  building  was  also  destroyed 
by  fire  in  1901,  and  then  the  present  magnificent 
market  house  and  city  hall  combined  was  erected  and 
today  has  no  equal  so  far  as  usefulness,  beauty  of 
architecture  and  honest  construction  in  the  entire 
South. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  Houston  formerly  had 
a  volunteer  fire  company  that  was  older  than  the 
city  itself;  that  is,  older  than  the  chartered  city.  This 
was  Protection  No.  1,  which  was  organized  in  1836. 
It  was  not  only  Houston's  first  fire  company,  but 
it  was  unquestionably  the  first  fire  company  or- 


EX-MAYOR  JOHN  T.  BROWNE 
A  Houston  Boy  Who  Made  Good 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  57 

ganized  in  Texas.  Houston  at  that  time  was  only 
an  aggregation  of  tents  and  log  shanties,  so  there 
was  no  great  danger  of  big  conflagrations,  and 
fighting  fire  was  not  the  serious  thing  it  became 
after  more  pretentious  buildings  were  erected.  Still 
there  was  danger  and  the  company  was  organized 
to  meet  that  danger.  For  the  first  fourteen  or  fif- 
teen years  of  its  existence  the  method  and  appli- 
ances for  fighting  fire  were  extremely  crude,  con- 
sisting only  of  the  formation  of  a  line  of  men  and 
the  passing  of  buckets  filled  with  water.  The  com- 
pany was  merely  a  bucket  brigade,  but  it  did  good 
work.  About  1850  the  company  purchased  its  first 
engine,  which  was  a  hand  engine,  worked  by  beams 
on  each  side.  This  old  engine  was  used  for  many 
years  and  figured  prominently  at  all  the  early  fires, 
including  the  two  or  three  great  ones  that  occurred 
in  the  late  fifties.  It  is  regretted  that  the  names  of 
these  early  Houston  firemen  have  not  been  pre- 
served. 

Protection  No.  1  was  Houston's  only  fire  com- 
pany from  1836  until  1858,  when  the  city  having 
grown  and  a  great  fire  having  occurred  in  1858  it 
became  evident  that  better  protection  against  fire 
was  an  imperative  necessity.  Hook  and  Ladder 
Company  No.  1  was  organized  in  1858  and  two 
years  later,  in  1860,  Liberty  No.  2  was  organized. 
Then  the  great  war  came  on  and  it  was  not  until 
between  1866  and  1870  that  further  additions  to  the 
department  were  made.  During  the  latter  part  of 


58  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTOBY  OF 

the  war  the  engines  were  handled  by  negroes  under 
control  of  white  officers. 

Mr.  T.  W.  House,  Sr.,  who  was  Mayor  of  the 
city  in  1862,  organized  the  first  Houston  Fire  De- 
partment. The  Department  was  composed  of  Pro- 
tection Xo.  1,  Hook  and  Ladder  Xo.  2,  and  Liberty 
Xo.  2.  Mr.  E.  L.  Bremond  was  made  Chief  of  the 
Department,  and  H.  F.  Hurd  and  Robert  Burns 
were  appointed  First  and  Second  Chiefs.  The  De- 
partment was  not  a  great  success  and  did  not  last 
long.  There  was  friction  between  the  companies  and 
so  each  one  pulled  out  and  acted  independently  and 
the  Department  died  a  natural  death. 

It  was  not  until  1874  that  another  and  successful 
attempt  was  made  to  organize  a  Department.  That 
year  Mr.  J.  H.  B.  House,  son  of  the  organizer  of 
the  first  Department,  succeeded  in  getting  all  the 
companies  in  the  city  to  consent  to  the  organization 
and  he  formed  a  really  strong  and  efficient  Depart- 
ment. Mr.  J.  H.  B.  House  was  unanimously  elected 
Chief,  and  Messrs.  Z.  T.  Hogan  and  C.  C.  Beavens 
were  elected  First  and  Second  Assistants,  as  named. 
Mr.  House  and  Mr.  Hogan  resigned  before  the  end 
of  their  first  term,  and  Mr.  W.  Williams  was  elect- 
ed Chief ,  C.  C.  Beavens,  First  Assistant  Chief,  and 
Fred  Harrey,  Second  Assistant. 

Following  is  a  synopsis  of  the  report  of  the  cele- 
bration of  San  Jacinto  Day.  taken  from  the  files 
of  the  Houston  Telegraph  of  April  22,  1875.  The 

celebration  was  gotten  up  by  the  new  Fire  Depart- 
ment: 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  59 

There  was  a  great  street  parade  in  which  were 
large  delegations  from  several  interior  cities,  mostly 
from  points  on  the  Houston  &  Texas  Central  rail- 
road. Col.  J.  P.  Likens  delivered  an  address  during 
the  afternoon.  The  following  local  companies  were 
in  line: 

Protection  No.  1 — Charles  Wichman,  foreman; 
L.  Ollre,  first  assistant;  S.  M.  McAshan,  president; 
Robert  Brewster,  secretary;  R.  Cohen,  treasurer. 

Hook  and  Ladder,  No.  1 — H.  P.  Roberts,  presi- 
dent; L.  H  la  lit  on,  vice-president;  William  Camer- 
on, secretary;  O.  L.  Cochran,  treasurer;  Dr.  Thorn. 
Robinson,  foreman;  J.  C.  Hart,  first  assistant;  G. 
W.  Gazley,  second  assistant. 

Stonewall,  No.  8 — Joseph  F.  Meyer,  foreman; 
L.  M.  Jones,  first  assistant;  F.  J.  Frank,  second  as- 
sistant; W.  Long,  president;  F.  Ludke,  vice-presi- 
dent; W.  E.  Smith,  secretary. 

Brooks,  No.  5 — I.  C.  Ford,  foreman;  William 
Alexander,  first  assistant;  J.  C.  Thomas,  Jr.,  sec- 
ond assistant;  J.  C.  Thomas,  Sr.,  president;  I. 
Snowball,  vice-president;  S.  L.  Mateer,  secretary; 
Thos.  Milner,  treasurer. 

Eagle,  No.  7 — John  Shearn,  Jr.,  foreman;  Wil- 
lie Van  Alstyne,  first  assistant;  Ed.  Mather,  sec- 
ond assistant. 

The  Telegraph  added  the  following  bit  of  infor- 
mation about  the  companies  taking  part  in  the  pa- 
rade: 

Protection  No.  1,  organized  in  1836. 


60  A  THUMB-XAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Houston  Hook  and  Ladder  No.  1,  organized 
April  17, 1858. 

Liberty  No.  2,  organized  1860. 

Stonewall  No.  3,  organized  in  the  late  sixties. 

Brooks  No.  5,  organized  in  the  late  sixties. 

Mechanic  No.  6,  organized  October  28,  1873. 

Eagle  No.  7,  organized  in  1875. 

At  that  time  the  Department  had  two  steamers, 
one  extinguisher  engine,  two  hand  wagons  and  one 
hook  and  ladder  company.  It  cost  about  $9,000  an- 
nually to  run  the  department. 

The  old  volunteer  department  existed  as  a  whole 
for  nineteen  years,  then,  in  1893,  it  became  a  part 
pay  and  a  part  volunteer  department.  That  prov- 
ing unsatisfactory,  the  city  took  over  the  whole  de- 
partment in  1895,  with  the  result  that  Houston  has, 
today,  one  of  the  most  useful  and  efficient  Fire  De- 
partments in  the  South.  There  are  thirty  pieces  of 
fire-fighting  apparatus,  of  which  nine  are  powerful 
modern  steamers. 

In  1875  it  cost  $9,000  annually  to  run  the  de- 
partment; today  it  costs  very  nearly  $125,000. 

For  some  years  after  Houston  was  founded  there 
was  little  or  no  necessity  for  crossing  to  the  north 
side  of  the  bayou.  Very  few  people  lived  on  that  side 
and  these  came  and  went  on  small  foot  bridges 
tvhich  answered  very  well  for  the  requirements  of 
the  limited  travel.  It  is  true  that  there  was  a  grow- 
ing wagon  trade  with  other  parts  of  the  State  and 
Houston  but  this  was  easily  accommodated.  All 
the  trade  from  the  west  and  northwest  came  in  over 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON ,  TEXAS  61 

the  San  Felipe  road.  That  from  the  north  came 
into  the  city  by  Stockbridge's  ford,  which  was  sit- 
uated at  the  foot  of  Texas  Avenue,  while  trade  from 
the  San  Jacinto  and  Trinity  came  by  the  way  of  the 
Harrisburg  ferry.  The  old  San  Felipe  road  re- 
mained unchanged  to  the  end,  but  the  trade  from 
other  parts  of  the  State  soon  grew  to  such  large  pro- 
portions that  the  primitive  methods  of  ford  and  fer- 
ry had  to  be  abandoned  and  in  1848  the  first  bridge 
over  Buffalo  bayou  was  built  at  the  foot  of  Pres- 
ton avenue. 

That  bridge  stood  for  ten  years,  but  was  swept 
away  by  a  great  flood  which  occurred  in  1853.  The 
bridge  that  was  constructed  in  its  place  was  remark- 
able for  its  height  and  length.  Its  builders  deter- 
mined that  it  should  not  share  the  fate  of  its  prede- 
cessor, so  they  built  its  center  very  high  and  extend- 
ed its  ends  high  up  on  each  bank  of  the  bayou.  It 
was  appropriately  named  "Long  Bridge,"  and 
though  seriously  threatened  by  high  water  on  sev- 
eral occasions  it  always  escaped  destruction.  Final- 
ly, in  the  great  flood  of  1878,  it  was  so  badly  dam- 
aged that  it  became  necessary  to  remodel  it  and  the 
present  Preston  street  bridge  is  the  result.  At 
about  the  same  time  that  the  Preston  bridge  was 
built  a  bridge  was  built  across  the  bayou  at  the  foot 
of  Milam  street  and  another  across  White  Oak 
bayou  at  the  same  point  the  present  White  Oak 
bridge  occupies.  These  bridges  were  originally 
cheap  wooden  structures,  but  were  remodeled  and 
iron  work  substituted  for  wood,  except  in  the  White 


62  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Oak  bridge.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to  estimate  the 
value  of  goods  and  produce  that  have  passed  over 
these  bridges.  For  years  everything  grown  in  Texas 
for  the  outside  markets  was  brought  to  Houston 
over  them,  while  all  goods  and  groceries  shipped 
to  the  interior  went  out  by  the  same  routes.  In  time 
the  Preston  bridge  became  of  chief  importance,  be- 
cause the  section  north  of  Houston  became  more 
rapidly  developed  and  the  trade  was  consequently 
immense  in  that  direction. 

Of  course  when  the  railroads  were  built,  the 
bridges  were  no  longer  needed  for  the  purpose  for 
which  they  were  originally  built,  but  by  that  time 
the  city  had  grown  and  extended  so  that  the  bridges 
became  equally  as  necessary  for  intercommunication 
between  the  various  section  of  the  city  as  they  had 
been  for  communication  with  the  interior  of  the 
State.  More  bridges  became  necessary  and  more 
were  constructed  until  now  there  are  half  a  dozen 
passenger  bridges  and  numerous  railroad  bridges 
spanning  Buffalo  Bayou,  while  an  immense  bridge 
is  being  constructed  at  the  foot  of  Main  street  so 
as  to  connect  with  the  Fifth  Ward. 


CHAPTER  THREE. 

The  First  Railroad— How  Mr.  Bremond  Accom- 
plished the  Impossible — Railroad  Development 
Before  and  After  the  War — Early  Physicians 
and  Lawyers — Sketch  of  the  Courts. 

Ask  ten  men  and  the  chances  are  that  nine  of 
them  will  say  that  the  first  railroad  ever  built  in 
Texas  had  its  start  in  Houston.  This  is  no  doubt  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  first  road  that  ever  amounted  to 
anything,  in  the  early  days,  the  Houston  &  Texas 
Central,  actually  did  have  its  beginning  here.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  railroad  building  began  (though 
nothing  was  accomplished)  thirteen  years  before 
work  on  the  Houston  &  Texas  Central  commenced. 
The  mistake  is  quite  natural  for  Houston  has  been 
the  starting  point  for  so  many  of  the  things  that 
have  made  Texas  great  that  it  seems  safe  to  credit 
her  with  being  the  mother  of  them  all. 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  first  railroad  con- 
struction ever  done  in  Texas,  if  grading  a  few  miles 
of  track  may  be  called  construction,  was  at  Harris- 
burg  in  1840.  Mr.  A.  Brisco  was  the  moving  spirit 
in  that  enterprise  and  he  formed  a  company,  putting 
up  as  a  bonus  a  number  of  lots  in  the  City  of  Har- 
risburg.  The  coirpany  he  formed  had  no  charter 
nor  did  they  try  to  get  one.  Their  idea  was  to  build 
the  road  from  Harrisburg  to  the  Brazos  and,  after 
they  had  earned  enough  money  by  the  traffic  from 
that  rich  section  to  justify  them  in  doing  so,  to  ex- 


64  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

tend  it  further  west  towards  Gonzales.  A  large 
force  of  negroes  was  put  to  work  grading  the  road 
bed  and  nearly  two  miles  were  completed  and  ties 
purchased  for  that  length  of  road  when  it  was  found 
that  the  cost  of  the  iron  rails  would  be  too  great,  so 
the  undertaking  was  abandoned.  The  next  year, 
however,  they  took  out  a  charter  under  the  name 
of  the  Harrisburg  Railroad  and  Trading  Company. 
Though  they  had  a  charter  now,  they  made  no  fur- 
ther attempt  to  actually  construct  the  road  and 
everything  was  allowed  to  lie  dormant  until  1847 
when  General  Sidney  Sherman  associated  himself 
with  a  number  of  prominent  Houston  and  Galves- 
ton  men,  secured  the  lots  offered  by  Mr.  Brisco, 
and  after  being  assured  of  financial  support  by 
New  York  capitalists,  he  reorganized  the  road  and 
secured  another  charter  for  it  under  the  name  Buf- 
falo Bayou,  Brazos  and  Colorado  railroad.  That 
road  afterwards  became  the  Galveston,  Harrisburg 
&  San  Antonio  railroad  of  today. 

Though  General  Sherman  and  his  associates  or- 
ganized in  1847,  it  was  not  until  1851  that  actual 
work  was  commenced.  The  preparation  of  the  road- 
bed was  commenced  and  pushed  as  rapidly  as  possi- 
ble, but  it  was  a  year  before  rails  were  laid.  That 
part  of  the  work  was  done  rapidly,  however,  and 
before  the  close  of  the  year  the  road  was  actually 
completed  as  far  as  the  Brazos,  32  miles  from  Har- 
risburg. No  stop  was  made,  but  the  road  was 
pushed  forward,  and  in  1860  Alleyton,  79  miles 
from  Harrisburg,  was  reached.  Here  a  halt  was 


JOHN  H.  KIRBY 
The  Man  Who  Put  Houston  on  the  Financial  Map 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  65 

made  and  before  work  could  be  resumed  the  war 
came  on  and  nothing  further  in  the  way  of  construc- 
tion was  possible. 

The  Houston  men  who  had  taken  a  leading  part 
in  the  construction  of  this  first  railroad  were  W.  M. 
Rice,  W.  A.  Van  Alstyne,  James  H.  Stevens,  B. 
A.  Shepherd  and  W.  J.  Hutchins. 

These  same  men  and  others  had  organized  a  pure- 
ly local  company  at  Houston,  one  year  before  con- 
struction had  begun  on  the  Harrisburg  road,  and 
had  obtained  a  charter  under  the  name  of  the  Brazos 
Plank  Road.  Their  object  was  to  grade  a  road  from 
Houston  to  some  point  on  the  Brazos  and  then 
plank  it  over  so  as  to  enable  the  ox  wagons  which 
were  the  only  means  of  transportation  in  those  days 
to  reach  Houston  easily  at  all  seasons.  That  was  in 
1850,  and  the  work  of  grading  had  extended  the 
it>ad  twenty-three  miles,  though  no  planks  had  been 
laid,  when  some  of  the  citizens  of  Chappell  Hill, 
Washington  County,  issued  a  call  for  a  great  meet- 
ing to  be  held  at  Chappell  Hill  in  the  interest  of 
building  a  railroad.  Houston  was  invited  to  send 
delegates  to  that  railroad  convention,  and  a  meet- 
ing was  held  in  June,  1852,  at  the  old  Capitol  Ho- 
tel for  the  purpose  of  discussing  the  question. 

The  meeting  was  largely  attended,  the  stock- 
holders in  the  Plank  Road  project  being  conspicu- 
ous. They  had  something  of  a  double  interest  in 
the  meeting,  for  while  they  knew  the  value  of  a  rail- 
road they  also  knew  that  a  railroad  would  complete- 
ly destroy  the  value  of  their  plank  road.  However, 


66  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

that  fact  seems  not  to  have  influenced  their  action, 
for  they  voted  for  sending  a  strong  delegation  to 
the  Chappell  Hill  convention.  This  action  was  taken 
not  without  opposition,  however,  for  while  making 
no  direct  attack  on  the  proposed  railroad,  Dr.  Fran- 
cis Moore,  the  editor  of  the  Telegraph,  made  a  vig- 
orous fight  for  the  plank  road,  which  he  argued  was 
a  present  necessity  and  one,  too,  which  could  be  sup- 
plied at  once,  while  it  would  take  years  to  secure  a 
charter  for  a  railroad  and  again  years  to  build  the 
road  after  the  charter  was  secured. 

A  fact  worthy  of  special  mention  is  that  at  that 
meeting  Mr.  Paul  Bremond  took  a  most  prominent 
part  in  advocating  the  building  of  the  railroad.  This 
was  his  first  appearance  as  a  railroad  advocate,  and 
it  deserves  notice  for  it  was  he  who  was  destined  to 
become  the  real  pioneer  in  railroad  building  in 
Texas.  He  had  been  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
railroad  chartered  in  1848  under  the  name  of  the 
Galveston  and  Red  River  railroad,  which  road,  after 
many  changes  and  amendments  of  its  charter,  fin- 
ally became  the  Houston  and  Texas  Central. 

Mr.  Bremond  opposed  adhering  to  the  plank  road 
if  it  was  going  to  delay  the  building  of  the  railroad, 
and  advocated  speedy  action  on  the  latter  proposi- 
tion. The  whole  situation  was  gone  over  at  that 
meeting  with  evident  good  results,  for  while  neither 
the  plank  road  nor  the  Washington  County  rail- 
road was  ever  built,  there  was  started  a  movement 
towards  railroad  building  that  resulted  in  work  be- 
ing actually  begun  on  the  Houston  and  Texas  Cen- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  67 

tral  railroad,  January  1,  1858,  Mr.  Paul  Bremond 
having  the  honor  of  throwing  the  first  shovel  of  dirt. 

Now  it  may  seem  strange  that  any  one  should 
have  raised  the  least  objection  to  railroad  building 
at  a  time  when  the  urgent  need  of  a  railroad  was  so 
obvious.  That,  however,  may  be  explained  by  the 
fact  that  the  Houston  merchants  had  become  used 
to  the  means  of  transit  then  in  vogue,  namely,  the 
ox-wagon,  and  had  seen  such  good  results  follow- 
ing it  that  they  were  beginning  to  feel  that  they 
could  do  very  well  without  other  means  of  trans- 
portation. It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  wagon 
service  was  not  desultory  nor  intermittent.  It  was 
slow  but  it  was  certain  and  regular.  For  fourteen 
years  it  had  been  in  force  and  was  thoroughly  or- 
ganized. Its  very  magnitude  and  the  numbers  en- 
gaged in  the  business  rendered  the  service  almost 
continuous,  and  while  individual  teams  might  be 
subject  to  unreasonable  detention  and  delay,  there 
were  so  many  others  to  take  their  place  that  such 
gaps  were  not  noticeable. 

As  remarked,  at  the  date  of  that  Capitol  Hotel 
meeting,  the  wagon  service  had  been  in  force  for 
fourteen  years;  had  answered  very  well  and  met 
all  conditions  except  that  of  speed  and  it  is  not  to 
be  wondered  at  that  the  ox-team  should  have  had 
its  advocates  among  those  whose  fortunes  it  had 
contributed  so  largely  to  build. 

The  service  was  indeed  of  great  magnitude  for 
it  extended  as  far  west  as  the  Colorado  and  up  to 
Austin ;  as  far  as  Waco  to  the  northwest  and  to  all 


68  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

points  in  East  and  Southern  Central  Texas.  There 
were  three  or  four  thousand  wagons  engaged  in  the 
traffic  and  as  each  wagon  required  from  sixteen 
to  twenty-four  oxen,  an  idea  of  the  amount  of 
money  involved  may  be  formed.  In  those  days 
every  bale  of  cotton,  every  bushel  of  corn,  every 
hide  and  everything  else  raised  in  Texas  for  the 
market  came  to  Houston  while  all  merchandise  and 
groceries  used  in  the  interior,  were  hauled  away 
from  Houston  by  ox  wagons.  The  business  was  a 
gigantic  one. 

But  the  success  of  starting  the  Buffalo  Bayou 
and  Colorado  railroad  and  of  actually  constructing 
32  miles  of  it  in  1852,  was  too  great  a  demonstra- 
tion of  what  could  be  done  and  it  spurred  the  Hous- 
ton people  on,  so  that,  as  already  remarked,  Mr. 
Bremond  actually  threw  the  first  shovel  full  of  dirt 
for  what  was  destined  to  become  one  of  the  great- 
est roads  in  the  country,  on  January  1,  1853. 

The  story  of  Mr.  Bremond's  trials  and  tribula- 
tions has  been  told  so  often  that  it  is  needless  to  re- 
peat it  here.  He  accomplished  something  that  was 
never  accomplished  before  and  has  never  been  at- 
tempted since.  He  built  fifty  miles  of  good  rail- 
road on  very  little  cash  and  a  great  deal  of  faith. 
He  had  absolute  confidence  in  himself  and  in  his 
own  honesty  and,  some  how,  he  managed  to  inspire 
others  with  his  own  faith  and  confidence.  He  was 
the  first  railroad  builder  to  water  the  stock  of  his 
road,  but  his  method  was  different  from  that  of  his 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  69 

successors  for  he  used  faith,  faith  and  then  more 
faith,  and  that  was  all. 

Mr.  Bremond  had  hundreds  of  Irishmen  work- 
ing for  him  as  section  hands,  and  it  is  no  exagger- 
ation to  say  that  before  the  expiration  of  the  first 
six  months  he  knew  everyone  of  them  by  sight,  if 
not  by  name.  This  was  not  because  of  any  great 
democracy  on  his  part  nor  was  it  because  of  the 
prominence  of  what  is  called  good  "mixing"  quali- 
ties in  him.  It  was  based  on  something  more  rea- 
sonable and  useful,  for  it  was  a  measure  of  self -pro- 
tection on  his  part,  for  he  used  his  knowledge  of 
his  men  to  enable  him  to  keep  from  coining  in  con- 
tact with  them.  They  were  so  unreasonable  as  to 
want  pay  for  their  work,  and  tiring  of  promises, 
they  began  to  take  matters  in  their  own  hands,  with 
most  unpleasant  effects  for  Mr.  Bremond.  No 
one  ever  knew  how  he  accomplished  it,  but  he  actu- 
ally built  the  road  as  far  as  Hempstead,  fifty  miles 
from  Houston,  with  scarcely  enough  money  to  build 
ten  miles,  but  with  promises  enough  to  have  built 
the  road  to  the  north  pole. 

When  the  road  reached  Hempstead  it  struck  a 
rich  territory  and  began  doing  a  large  and  lucra- 
tive business.  Mr.  Bremond's  first  care  was  to  ful- 
fill the  promises  he  had  made  to  his  men,  and  their 
claims  were  the  first  that  were  settled.  No  man 
who  ever  trusted  Paul  Bremond,  whether  willingly 
or  unwillingly,  as  those  Irishmen  did,  ever  lost  a 
cent  by  doing  so. 

Twenty-three  years  later,  in  1876,  Mr.  Bremond 


70  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

undertook  the  construction  of  another  great  road. 
He  tried  to  get  sufficient  outside  backing  to  en- 
able him  to  build  it  without  any  of  the  friction  and 
worry  he  had  encountered  with  the  Houston  and 
Texas  Central.  His  success  in  getting  the  financial 
aid  he  sought  was  only  partial,  but  he  had  made  up 
his  mind  to  build  the  road  and  he  did  so.  Again  he 
threw  the  first  spadeful  of  dirt,  and  before  he  got 
through  with  his  work,  he  had  added  the  Houston 
East  and  West  Texas  railroad  to  the  iron  ways  cen- 
tering at  Houston.  When  the  war  began  Houston 
had  made  considerable  progress  in  railroad  build- 
ing. The  Texas  and  New  Orleans  had  been  con- 
structed for  about  111  miles,  the  Buffalo  Bayou 
and  Colorado  had  been  extended  to  Alleyton,  also 
about  80  miles,  and  had  been  connected  with  Hous- 
ton by  the  Columbia  Tap  road  which  extended  from 
Houston  to  Columbia  on  the  Brazos,  fifty  miles. 
The  Houston  and  Texas  Central  had  been  extended 
to  Millican,  81  miles  from  Houston,  while  the  Gal- 
veston,  Houston  and  Henderson  road  connected 
Houston  and  Galveston.  The  last  named  road  was 
of  the  greatest  military  importance  and  was 
therefore  kept  up,  in  some  way,  during  the 
four  years  of  the  war,  but  it  was  the  only 
one.  The  other  roads  were,  necessarily,  al- 
lowed to  go  to  ruin  and  when  the  war  ended 
it  was  flattery  to  speak  of  them  as  "streaks  of 
rust."  The  roadbed  and  right  of  way  were  about  all 
that  was  left  of  them.  The  owners  of  the  roads 
were  in  about  as  bad  shape  financially,  as  were  the 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  71 

roads  physically,  with  the  result  that  through  reor- 
ganization and  other  methods,  by  1870  about  every 
railroad  in  Texas  had  changed  hands. 

With  the  completion  of  the  Houston  and  Texas 
Central  to  Denison  and  its  connection  there  with  the 
Missouri,  Kansas  and  Texas,  thus  forming  a 
through  line  to  St.  Louis,  and  the  completion  of 
the  Texas  and  New  Orleans  line  to  New  Orleans, 
and  the  extension  of  the  Galveston,  Houston 
and  San  Antonio  to  San  Antonio,  Houston  be- 
came a  railroad  center  at  once.  Then  the  Inter- 
national and  Great  Northern  was  built  and 
since  the  late  seventies  nearly  each  year  has 
seen  additions  to  Houston's  railroads  until  now 
there  are  seventeen  roads  centering  here  and  Hous- 
ton is  now  one  of  the  greatest  railroad  centers  in  the 
country. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  difference  in  the  rail- 
road situation  in  Texas,  and  in  Harris  county,  in 
particular,  since  the  close  of  the  war.  As  noted  in 
the  foregoing  there  were,  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
less  than  370  miles  of  railroads  in  the  whole  State. 
Today  Harris  county  alone  has  450  miles  within  its 
limits,  valued  at  $20,000,000,  and,  of  this  there  is 
invested  in  terminal  facilities  at  Houston  about 
$12,000,000. 

According  to  the  census  report  there  are  2,843 
trainmen  and  clerks  and  3,000  shopmen,  or  a  total 
cf  5,843  employes  of  the  railroads  paid  off  here,  the 
total  amount  of  their  salaries  and  wages  footing  up 
$7,000,000  in  round  numbers.  Really  Mr.  Bremond 


72  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

should  be  allowed  to  come  back  to  life  just  to  see 
what  has  grown  from  that  first  shovel  of  dirt  he 
threw  up  on  that  January  morning,  1853. 

The  real  importance  and  magnitude  of  the  rail- 
road situation  is  shown  much  better  by  the  terminal 
facilities  and  trackage  of  the  roads  within  the  city 
limits.  Placed  end  to  end  these  sidetracks  and 
switches  would  make  a  line  of  railroad  275  miles 
long,  or  just  about  the  total  length  of  the  Houston 
and  Texas  Central  railroad. 

The  Houston  yards  of  the  Southern  Pacific  road 
are  the  largest  in  the  Southwest,  having  a  trackage 
of  131  miles  and  a  capacity  of  10,000  cars.  The 
Harriman  tracks  in  Houston  accommodate  123  dif- 
ferent industrial  plants,  handle  over  50,000  cars 
monthly  and  employ  in  that  work  547  men.  The 
round  houses  contain  72  stalls  and  1,600  men  are 
employed  in  the  round  house  and  shops  of  this  com- 
pany. Twenty-two  switch  engines  are  kept  con- 
stantly in  use  in  these  yards,  taking  cars  to  and  from 
the  industrial  plants  and  in  making  up  trains. 

The  Southern  Pacific  has  738  switches  in  the 
yards  here.  Among  the  other  properties  of  the 
Southern  Pacific  are  water  tanks,  for  the  locomo- 
tives, with  a  capacity  of  100,000  gallons,  and  fuel 
oil  tanks  with  a  capacity  of  225,000  barrels.  The 
pay  roll  of  the  Harriman  interests  in  Houston  is 
$4,000,000  annually. 

The  Houston  Belt  and  Terminal  company's  ter- 
minals aggregate  trackage  of  about  fifty-five  miles. 
Among  other  properties  of  this  company,  in  addi- 


H.  BALDWIN  RICE 
The  Great  Mayor  of  a  Great  City 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  73 

tion  to  the  handsome  passenger  terminal  and  the 
convenient  freight  depots,  are  a  round  house  and 
machine  shops,  oil  tanks  and  water  tanks.  Over 
200  men  are  employed  in  these  yards  and  shops. 
The  company  uses  five  switch  engines,  all  of  which 
burn  oil.  Practically  every  industrial  plant  in  the 
city  is  reached  by  these  tracks. 

The  Houston  Belt  and  Terminal  company  facili- 
ties are  used  by  a  number  of  the  roads  entering 
Houston.  The  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Texas,  the 
Santa  Fe,  the  Trinity  and  Brazos  Valley,  the  Frisco 
lines  east  and  the  Brownsville  line  all  use  the  pas- 
senger station.  The  same  lines,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Katy,  use  the  freight  facilities. 

The  International  and  Great  Northern  has  fifty- 
six  miles  of  track  in  its  local  terminals.  Its  yards 
are  mostly  located  on  this  side  of  the  ship  channel, 
though  several  miles  are  in  the  north  side,  where 
they  touch  a  number  of  Houston  industries.  The 
principal  shops  of  the  company  are  located  in  Pal- 
estine, but  fifty-seven  men  are  employed  in  the  re- 
pair shops  here.  About  120  other  men  are  employed 
in  the  yards.  The  tracks  of  this  company  touch 
eighty-three  different  industrial  plants.  There  are 
twelve  switch  engines  operating  in  these  yards, 
which  accommodate  2,500  cars.  The  oil  tanks  of 
this  company  in  Houston  have  a  capacity  of  190 
barrels  and  the  water  tanks  75,000  gallons.  There 
are  six  stalls  in  the  round  house  and  194  switches  in 
the  yards. 

The  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Texas  has  about  fif- 


74  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

teen  miles  of  track  in  its  yards  here.  These  yards 
have  a  capacity  of  1,500  cars.  Forty -three  men  are 
employed  in  the  car  department  of  the  shops  here 
and  nine  men  are  employed  in  the  round  house, 
which  has  six  stalls.  In  the  yards  there  are  forty- 
five  men  employed.  Five  switch  engines  are  used 
in  the  yards  constantly.  The  water  tanks  of  this 
company  here  have  a  capacity  of  100,000  gallons 
and  the  coal  chutes  forty  tons. 

The  San  Antonio  and  Aransas  Pass  has  a  yard 
track  mileage  of  thirteen  miles.  Over  1,100  cars 
can  be  accommodated  in  them  and  three  switch 
engines  are  necessary  to  handle  the  business.  Nine- 
teen men  are  employed  in  the  yards.  This  company 
maintains  a  freight  depot  here,  but  its  passenger 
trains  enter  the  Southern  Pacific  depot.  This  com- 
pany is  also  closely  allied  to  the  Southern  Pacific 
and  can  touch  most  of  the  local  industrial  plants 
on  the  Harriman  tracks. 

All  the  other  lines  entering  this  city  operate  very 
little  yard  trackage,  but  have  agreements  with  some 
one  of  these  roads.  The  Galveston,  Houston  and 
Henderson  and  the  Santa  Fe  both  have  small 
stretches  of  track  here,  but  the  mileage  is  small. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  land  transportation 
occupied  the  attention  of  the  early  Houstonians  to 
the  exclusion  of  everything  else.  Water  transpor- 
tation was  given  a  great  deal  of  attention,  though 
in  that  direction  not  so  much  was  required.  There 
was  plenty  of  water  in  the  bayou  to  float  the  largest 
steamboats  of  that  day,  but  there  were  one  or  two 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  75 

very  troublesome  features.  There  were  obstacles 
to  navigation  near  Morgan's  Point,  where  there 
were  two  bars  known  as  Red  Fish  and  Clopper's 
bars.  The  water  was  shallow  at  these  two  points 
and  whenever  a  severe  norther  blew  the  water  out 
of  Galveston  Bay,  these  bars  became  impassable. 
At  that  time  there  was  no  remedy  for  the  evil,  so 
it  had  to  be  endured.  At  this  end  of  the  bayou  there 
was  a  less  formidable  though  serious  obstacle.  Be- 
tween Houston  and  Harrisburg,  for  a  distance  by 
water  of  about  sixteen  miles,  the  bayou  was  very 
tortuous  and  overhung  by  large  trees.  The  limbs 
of  these  trees  played  havoc  with  the  wood  work  of 
the  steamboats  and  sometimes  did  serious  damage 
to  the  boats  themselves. 

The  work  of  improving  navigation  of  the  bayou 
was  done  exclusively  by  the  people  of  Houston, 
without  outside  assistance.  This  seems  strange,  for 
among  the  first  measures  passed  by  the  Texas 
Congress  was  one  setting  aside  $300,000  for  the  im- 
provement of  Texas  rivers  and  harbors.  For  some 
unknown  reason  no  request  was  ever  made  for  this 
money,  certainly  not  for  the  improvement  of  Buf- 
falo Bayou.  The  work  was  rather  crude  and  sim- 
ple and  was  chiefly  that  of  cutting  off  overhanging 
limbs,  removing  sunHn  logs  and  cutting  down  trees 
that  could  be  gotten  rid  of  in  no  other  way.  The 
importance  of  the  bayou  has  always  been  recog- 
nized by  the  people  of  Houston  first,  and  then  by 
the  people  of  Texas  and  of  the  Southwest.  In  the 
early  days  it  afforded  the  only  safe  communication 


76  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

between  the  people  of  Texas  and  the  outside  world, 
and  in  later  days  it  has  been  made  the  basis  for  ad- 
justing fair  and  equitable  freight  rates  over  the  rail- 
roads. Aside  from  its  importance  as  a  freight  car- 
rier for  Houston,  it  is  important  in  regulating 
freights  for  the  entire  Southwest,  and  that  fact 
creates  interests  in  the  bayou  in  territory  remote 
from  Houston.  Really  Buffalo  Bayou  should  have 
pages  devoted  to  it  instead  of  this,  necessarily,  brief 
mention. 

A  year  after  Houston  was  laid  out  as  a  "city," 
the  first  steamboat,  the  Laura,  came  up  here  from 
Harrisburg,  though  she  had  a  terrible  time  in  ac- 
complishing the  passage  from  Harrisburg  to  Hous- 
ton. The  Laura  seems  to  have  cleared  the  bayou 
of  so  many  obstructions  that  after  that  several 
steamboats  and  sailing  vessels  came  here  and  soon 
there  was  a  regular  service  established  between 
Houston  and  Galveston,  which  continued  for  some 
years  after  the  war,  the  railroads  finally  destroy- 
ing the  passenger  business,  and  since  then  the  im- 
mense traffic,  amounting  to  millions  each  year,  has 
been  done  by  means  of  barges. 

During  the  latter  years  there  were  some  magnifi- 
cent steamboats  engaged  in  the  Houston- Galveston 
trade,  the  two  most  magnificent  ones  being  the 
"Diana"  and  "T.  M.  Bagby,"  sister  boats  which 
compared  favorably  with  any  of  the  famous  Mis- 
sissippi river  boats.  They  were  each  170  feet  long, 
32  feet  beam  and  five  feet  hold  and  were  furnished 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  77 

in  the  most  luxurious  manner.  Each  was  a  veritable 
floating  palace. 

There  are  only  stray  pieces  of  records  and  sta- 
tistics relating  to  cotton  shipments  during  early 
years,  in  existence.  In  1839  only  eight  bales  of  cot- 
ton were  shipped  down  the  bayou.  By  1844  those 
eight  bales  had  grown  to  7,000.  The  next  year, 
1845,  a  large  cotton  crop  was  made  in  Texas  and 
the  receipts  and  shipments  here  amounted  to  12,000 
bales.  Nine  years  later  they  had  grown  to  be  38,000 
bales  and  the  growth  has  been  steady  ever  since, 
until  today  Houston  handles  more  actual  spot  cot- 
ton than  any  other  market  in  America.  The  local 
sales  of  spot  cotton  in  Houston  average  about 
750,000  each  season,  while  its  receipts  and  shipments 
are  between  2,500,000  and  8,000,000  bales  yearly. 

Although  there  were  such  men  as  Ewing,  Ash- 
bel  Smith,  McAnally,  and  others  of  lesser  promi- 
nence practicing  medicine  in  the  very  early  days  of 
Houston  there  seems  to  have  been  no  effort  made 
by  them  to  form  a  medical  association.  Ten  years 
later  there  were  several  additions  to  the  medical 
profession  in  Houston.  Among  the  new-comers 
were  Dr.  S.  O.  Young,  Sr.,  Dr.  William  McCraven, 
Dr.  W.  D.  Robinson,  Dr.  W  H.  Howard  and  Dr. 
L.  A.  Bryan. 

More  than  ten  years  more  passed  before  a  suc- 
cessful attempt  was  made  to  form  an  association. 
In  1857  the  first  Houston  medical  association  was 
organized.  Dr.  J.  S.  Duval  was  elected  president; 
Dr.  H.  W.  Waters,  vice  president  and  Dr.  R.  H. 


78  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Boxley,  secretary.  The  following  was  the  full  list 
of  members :  J.  S.  Duval,  W.  H.  Howard,  Green- 
ville Dowell,  R.  H.  Boxley,  and  H.  W.  Waters. 
The  objects  of  the  organization  were:  "To  culti- 
vate the  science  of  medicine  and  all  its  collateral 
branches;  to  cherish  and  sustain  medical  character; 
to  encourage  medical  etiquette  and  to  promote  mu- 
tual improvement,  social  intercourse  and  good  feel- 
ing among  members  of  the  medical  profession." 

The  first  resolution  adopted  by  the  association 
was  one  aimed  at  the  Homeopaths,  and  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

"Whereas,  The  scientific  medical  world  has 
proven  Homeopathy  to  be  a  species  of  empirism, 
too  flagrant  to  merit  the  confidence  of  rational  men, 
and  too  fabulous  to  deserve  even  the  passing  notice 
of  an  educated  physician,  and  as  we  are  convinced 
that  it  is  a  delusion,  far  surpassing  any  other  ism 
known  to  the  world,  witchcraft  not  excepted,  there- 
fore we  will  not  recognize,  professionally  or  pri- 
vately, any  man  who  professes  to  cure  diseases 
through  the  agency  of  Hahnemanic  teachings. 

"Be  it  Resolved,  That  as  a  diploma  from  a  reg- 
ularly organized  medical  school  is  the  only  evidence 
of  qualification  which  our  community  can  obtain  in 
regard  to  the  doctors  in  their  midst,  we  respectfully 
recommend  to  the  citizens  of  this  flourishing  city 
that  they  demand  of  every  man  who  assumes  the 
responsibility  of  a  physician  to  their  families,  their 
diplomas  as  certificates  of  their  worthiness  of  pat- 
ronage, and  that  they  see  to  it  that  they  are  not  im- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  79 

posed  on  by  a  diploma  from  a  medical  society  or 
a  certificate  of  qualifications  as  a  dresser  in  a  hos- 
pital." 

Two  years  later,  in  1859,  the  Houston  association 
issued  a  call  addressed  to  the  physicians  of  the 
State  asking  them  to  meet  in  Houston  for  the  pur- 
pose of  organizing  a  State  Medical  association. 
There  is  reason  to  believe  that  such  meeting  was 
held  but  there  is  no  record  of  it.  The  best  evidence 
that  there  was  such  an  association  formed  is  the  fact 
that  Dr.  W.  H.  Howard,  who  was  a  member  of  the 
City  association  in  '1859,  always  spoke  of  the  forma- 
tion of  the  present  State  Medical  association  as  the 
re-organization  of  the  old  association. 

The  following  named  physicians  met  in  the  par- 
lors of  the  Hutchins  House  on  December  8,  1868, 
for  the  purpose  of  forming  the  Harris  Count} 
Medical  association :  L.  A.  Bryan,  W.  H.  Howard, 
J.  Larendon,  D.  F.  Stuart,  T.  J.  Poulson,  R.  W. 
Lunday,  Alva  Connell  Sr.,  Alva  Connell  Jr.,  G.  H. 
McDonnall,  W.  D.  Robinson,  T.  J.  Devereaux, 
J.  M.  Morris,  W.  P.  Riddell. 

After  issuing  a  call  to  the  physicians  of  Texas 
inviting  them  to  meet  in  Houston,  April  15,  1869, 
for  the  purpose  of  organizing,  or  rather  re-organ- 
izing the  State  association,  the  Harris  County  asso- 
ciation adjourned  and  aever  held  another  meeting 
until  resurrected  in  1904,  since  which  date  it  has 
been  one  of  the  largest  and  most  useful  county  asso- 
ciations in  the  State. 

The  State  Medical  association  was  formed  in  the 


80  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

parlors  of  the  Hutchins  House,  April  15,  1869. 

If  the  early  lawyers  of  Houston  had  any  associ- 
ation they  have  left  no  record  of  the  fact.  There 
were  great  lawyers  then  and  they  set  a  standard  of 
professional  ethics  and  courtesy  which,  be  it  said 
to  the  credit  of  those  who  followed  them,  has  never 
been  lowered.  From  the  earliest  date  the  bar  of 
Houston  has  always  been  great  and  influential. 
Among  the  big  men  when  Houston  was  in  its  swad- 
ling  clothes  were  such  men  as  Archibald  Wynn,  a 
criminal  lawyer  of  marked  ability ;  Peter  W.  Gray, 
W.  P.  Haniblen,  E.  A.  Palmer,  A.  N.  Jordan,  J. 
W.  Henderson,  Benjamin  F.  Tankersley,  Gus 
Tompkins,  A.  P.  Thompson,  A.  S.  Richardson 
and  C.  B.  Sebin.  The  mere  mention  of  these  names 
is  sufficient  to  show  the  high  standing  of  the  Hous- 
ton bar  at  the  very  beginning. 

During  and  after  the  close  of  the  war  there  were 
many  very  brilliant  and  able  lawyers  who  came  to 
Houston.  Among  the  most  distinguished  of  these 
was  Hon.  Charles  Stewart,  D.  U.  Barziza,  John 
H.  Manley,  Frank  Spencer,  George  Goldthwaite, 
E.  P.  Hamblen,  W.  H.  Crank,  Judge  Wilson, 
James  Masterson,  C.  Anson  Jones,  son  of  the  last 
President  of  the  Republic  of  Texas;  W.  A.  Car- 
rington,  F.  F.  Chew,  J.  C.  Hutchinson,  Judge 
James  Baker,  W.  B.  Botts  and  others  of  equal 
prominence.  These  as  all  know,  were  men  of  the 
greatest  probity  and  honor  and  would  have  reflected 
honor  on  any  bar. 

When  the  first  amended  constitution  of  Texas 


COL.  J.  S  RICE 
President  Union  National  Bank 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  81 

was  adopted  by  the  people,  it  created  a  criminal  dis- 
trict court  for  Harris  and  Galveston  counties. 
Judge  Gustave  Cook  was  appointed  presiding 
judge  and  held  the  position  for  fourteen  years. 
His  successors  on  the  bench  have  been:  C.  L.  Cleve- 
land, E.  D.  Cavin,  J.  K.  P.  Gillespie,  E.  R.  Camp- 
bell and  C.  W.  Robinson. 

The  following  were  the  officers  of  the  Eleventh 
district  court  from  its  organization  to  the  present 
day: 

From  1887  to  1842 — Benjamin  C.  Franklin, 
Judge;  James  S.  Holman,  Clerk;  John  W.  Moore, 
Sheriff. 

From  1842  to  1849 — Richard  Morris,  Judge; 
F.  R.  Lubbock,  Clerk;  M.  T.  Rogers,  Sheriff. 

From  1849  to  1854— C.  W.  Buckley,  Judge; 
F.  R.  Lubbock,  Clerk;  David  Russell,  Sheriff. 

From  1854  to  1862— Peter  W.  Gray,  Judge. 

From  1862  to  1866 — James  A.  Baker,  Judge; 
W.  B.  Walker,  Clerk;  B.  P.  Lanham,  Sheriff. 

From  1866  to  1869  there  were  no  elections  and 
the  members  of  the  bar  selected  the  following 
named  gentlemen  to  act  as  judge  of  the  court: 
George  R.  Scott,  C.  B.  Sabin  and  P.  W.  Gray. 

From  1869  to  1870— George  R.  Scott,  Judge. 

From  1870  to  18?2 — James  R.  Masterson, 
Judge. 

From  1892  to  1896 — S.  H.  Brashear,  Judge. 

From  1896  to  1900— John  G.  Tod,  Judge. 

From  1900  to  date — Charles  E.  Ashe,  Judge. 


82  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

The  following  is  a  complete  list  of  the  sheriffs  of 
Harris  county  since  the  organization  of  the  county 
to  1912: 

1837-42— John  W.  Moore. 

1842-49— M.  T.  Rodgers. 

1849-54— David  Russell. 

1854-58— Thomas  Hogan. 

1858-62— M.  M.  Grimes. 

1862-66— B.  P.  Lanham. 

Note — In  1866  John  Proudfoot  was  elected  sher- 
iff but  after  holding  office  for  a  short  time  he  dis- 
appeared and  Mr.  I.  C.  Lord,  who  was  city  marshal 
at  the  time,  was  appointed  to  act  as  sheriff  until 
an  election  could  be  held.  Another  regular  election 
was  held  and  A.  B.  Hall  was  elected. 

1866-73— A.  B.  Hall. 

1873-76— S.  S.  Ashe. 

1876-82— Cornelius  Noble. 

1882-86— John  J.  Fant. 

1886-94 — George  Ellis. 

1894-96— Fred  Erichson. 

1896  to  date— A.  R.  Anderson. 

The  Fifty-first  district  court  was  organized  in 
1897,  and  since  then  has  had  but  three  judges,  as 
follows : 

From  1902  to  1911— Judge  Wm.  P.  Hamblen. 
From  1911  to  date — Judge  William  Masterson. 
Judge  Hamblen  having  died  in  office,  Judge  Mas- 
terson was  appointed  to  succeed  him. 

The  Sixty-first  District  court  was  organized  in 
February,  1903,  and  has  had  but  one  presiding 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  83 

judge  since  its  organization,  Judge  N.  G.  Kittrell. 

The  Harris  county  court  was  created  by  the  Leg- 
islature in  1867.  John  Brasher  was  elected  county 
judge  and  served  until  1869.  His  successor  was 
Judge  M.  N.  Brewster,  who  was  put  in  office  by 
the  Republican  reconstructionists.  Judge  Brew- 
ster was  ousted  by  the  Democrats  in  1867  and 
Judge  C.  Anson  Jones  was  elected  and  served  until 
his  death,  which  occurred  in  1882.  Judge  E.  P. 
Hamblen  was  elected  in  1882  and  served  until  1884. 
Judge  W.  C.  Andrews  was  elected  in  1884  and 
served  until  1892.  Judge  Andrews  was  a  candi- 
date for  re-election  in  1892,  but  died  just  before  the 
election.  On  the  death  of  Judge  Andrews  Judge 
John  G.  Tod  was  placed  on  the  ticket  and  was 
elected.  In  1896,  Judge  W.  N.  Shaw  was  elected 
and  remained  in  office  for  two  years,  being  suc- 
ceeded by  Judge  E.  H.  Vasmer  in  1898.  Judge 
Vasmer  held  office  for  four  years  and  was  followed 
by  Judge  Blake  Dupree  in  1902.  Judge  Dupree 
held  office  for  two  terms  and  was  succeeded  by 
Judge  A.  E.  Amerman,  the  present  incumbent. 

The  Corporation  court  for  Houston  was  created 
by  act  of  the  Legislature  in  1899.  Before  the  cre- 
ation of  this  court  the  city  had  a  somewhat  similar 
court,  the  presiding  judge  being  sometimes  the 
mayor,  sometimes  a  recorder  and  at  others  a  jus- 
tice of  the  peace.  The  method  was  so  unsatisfac- 
tory that  the  present  court  was  created  to  avoid 
all  confusion.  The  first  election  to  provide  a  judge 
for  the  new  court  was  held  soon  after  the  creation 


84  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

of  the  court  and  Judge  A.  R.  Railey  was  elected 
and  served  until  1902,  when  he  was  defeated  by 
Judge  Marmion.  When  the  form  of  the  city  gov- 
ernment was  changed  Judge  Marmion  was  elected 
as  one  of  the  commissioners  and  Judge  John  H. 
Kirlicks  was  appointed  to  fill  his  unexpired  term 
and  has  held  office  ever  since  to  the  satisfaction 
of  everybody  except  the  evil-doers. 

The  Houston  Bar  association  was  organized  in 
1870.  Judge  Peter  W.  Gray  was  its  first  president, 
Judge  George  Golthwaite  its  vice  president  and 
Col.  Thomas  J.  Whitfield,  recording  secretary,  N. 
P.  Turner,  corresponding  secretary  and  W.  C. 
Watson,  treasurer.  The  association  was  oiot 
numerically  strong  at  the  beginning,  but  it  was 
strong  in  every  other  way,  for  among  its  members 
were  some  of  the  greatest  lawyers  in  the  country. 
Today  the  association  is  strong  in  every  way  and 
compares  favorably  with  similar  associations  any- 
where. L.  J.  Bryan  is  president;  Thomas  H.  Botts, 
secretary  and  Chester  H.  Bryan  is  treasurer.  The 
association  has  a  membership  of  several  hundred. 


CHAPTER  FOUR. 

Houston's  First  Newspaper — Flood  of  Newspa- 
pers at  the  Close  of  the  War — The  Houston  Post 
—Houston  Herald — The  Daily  Post  and  Hous- 
ton Chronicle  of  Toda//. 

Before  the  invasion  of  Texas  by  Santa  Anna 
there  was  a  Mr.  Gray  who  had  a  printing  office, 
consisting  of  a  few  fonts  of  type,  a  dilapidated 
press  and  a  few  other  necessary  things  at  Brazoria. 
From  time  to  time  he  published  a  little  news  sheet, 
but  made  no  effort  to  issue  a  regular  newspaper. 
About  the  same  time  there  was  a  little  paper  pub- 
lished at  Nacogdoches,  but  it  was  spasmodic,  irreg- 
ular and  not  entitled  to  be  considered  a  newspaper. 
With  these  two  exceptions  there  was  net  a  paper 
published  in  Texas  prior  to  the  Texas  Revolution, 
nor  while  the  Texans  were  striving  to  bring  about 
concerted  action  against  Mexico,  except  that  estab- 
lished by  the  Borden  Brothers,  Gail  and  Thomas, 
at  Columbia,  October  10, 1835.  The  Bordens  had 
the  greatest  trouble  to  get  not  only  material,  but 
editors  and  printers,  but  finally  they  succeeded, 
and  on  the  date  named,  issued  the  Telegraph  and 
Register,  which  under  the  name  of  the  Telegraph 
was  destined  to  become  and  remain  for  years,  the 
leading  newspaper  of  Texas. 

The  Telegraph  and  Register  was  issued  on  the 
very  day  that  the  Texans,  under  Fannin,  stormed 
and  took  Goliad,  and  as  things  began  to  happen 


86  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

with  startling  rapidity  after  that,  there  was  no 
lack  of  sensational  news  for  the  paper.  The  paper 
was  of  the  greatest  assistance  to  the  cause  of  the 
Texans,  for  it  did  much  to  concentrate  public  opin- 
ion and  to  keep  the  people  informed  about  current 
events — information  obtainable  in  no  other  way. 
The  paper  was  published  regularly  from  October, 
1835,  until  late  in  March,  1836,  when  the  Bordens, 
learning  that  Houston  had  fallen  back  before  Santa 
Anna  and  had  crossed  the  Brazos  at  San  Felipe, 
decided  to  fall  back  themselves  and  take  their  news- 
paper plant  to  a  safer  location.  With  great  diffi- 
culty they  managed  to  move  everything  to  Harris- 
burg  and  had  an  issue  of  the  Telegraph  all  ready 
for  the  press  when  Santa  Anna's  soldiers  showed 
up,  burned  their  building  and  threw  their  press  into 
the  bayou.  Instead  of  being  discouraged  the  Bor- 
dens ordered  a  new  outfit  from  Cincinnati,  and, 
some  time  in  August,  1836,  resumed  the  publica- 
tion of  the  Telegraph  in  Columbia,  where  the  Texas 
Congress  met  two  months  later.  Gail  B  or  den  hav- 
ing been  appointed  collector  of  customs  at  Galves- 
ton  and  it  being  necessary  for  him  to  make  his  home 
there,  he  retired  from  the  Telegraph  and  his  brother 
Tom  desiring  to  leave  also,  they  sold  the  paper  to 
Mr.  Jacob  Cruger  and  Dr.  Francis  Moore,  who 
moved  it  to  Houston  and  issued  the  first  number 
here  on  May  2,  1837.  Dr.  Moore  was  chief  editor 
of  the  Telegraph  until  1853,  when  Harry  H.  Allen 
became  editor  and  proprietor  and  continued  as 
such  until  1856,  when  he  sold  the  paper  to  Mr.  E. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  87 

H.  Cushing,  who  was  one  of  the  most  gifted  writers 
and  able  newspaper  men  the  State  has  ever  had. 
Ten  years  later,  in  1866,  Mr.  Cushing  sold  the 
Telegraph  to  Col.  C.  C.  Gillespie,  who  was  a  strong 
and  forcible  writer  but  rather  a  poor  editor.  Col. 
Gillespie  employed  Mr.  J.  E.  Carnes  as  editorial 
writer  and  between  the  two  the  Telegraph  soon  be- 
came the  leading  literary  paper  of  the  State.  Too 
much  attention  was  paid  to  fine  writing  and  too  lit- 
tle to  news,  so  the  paper  lost  ground  and  was  about 
on  its  last  legs  when  Col.  Gillespie  sold  it  to  General 
Webb,  who  published  it  regularly  until  1873,  when 
the  financial  panic  of  that  year  killed  it. 

The  next  year  Mr.  A.  C.  Gray  revived  it  and  un- 
der his  able  management  it  soon  became  the  leading 
paper  of  the  State  again.  In  its  first  issue  under 
Mr.  Gray's  management,  April  16, 1874,  Mr.  Gray 
said: 

"The  Houston  Telegraph  is  an  old  and  familiar 
friend  to  very  many  in  and  out  of  Texas  who  will 
hail  its  reappearance  as  the  return  of  an  old,  a  much 
loved  and  greatly  lamented  companion.  Founded 
in  the  days  of  the  Republic,  it  was  true  to  the  gov- 
ernment and  to  the  people,  and  by  its  efforts  ac- 
complished, perhaps,  as  much  as  any  other  instru- 
mentality in  calling  attention  to  and  developing  the 
resources  of  this  great  commonwealth.  Under  the 
control  and  guidance  of  such  men  as  Gail  Borden, 
Dr.  Francis  Moore,  Henry  Allen,  E.  H.  Cushing 
and  others,  it  has  reared  for  itself  an  imperishable 
monument,  by  its  fidelity  to  the  law,  good  govern- 


A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 


ment  and  general  progress.  *  *  *  It  is  with  no 
ordinary  satisfaction,  and  we  trust  a  pardonable 
pride,  that  the  present  managing  editor  and  propri- 
etor refers  to  his  past  connection  with  and  present 
relation  to  the  office  of  the  Telegraph.  Twenty- 
eight  years  ago,  when  a  mere  boy,  he  entered  it  as 
an  apprentice.  By  patient  toil  and  proper  pride  in 
his  chosen  profession  he  became  its  business  manager 
during  its  most  prosperous  period.  And  when,  un- 
der the  financial  panic  of  1873,  it  was  forced  to 
suspend  and  ceased  to  make  its  daily  appearance 
he  mourned  it  as  if  a  friend  had  fallen.  Since  then 
it  has  been  his  ambition  to  call  the  slumbering  Ajax 
to  the  field  again  and  bid  it  battle  with  renewed  en- 
ergy for  constitutional  government,  Democratic 
principles  and  the  general  weal." 

Mr.  Gray  made  a  magnificent  fight  to  reinstate 
the  Telegraph  in  the  front  ranks  of  Texas  journals, 
and  from  a  literary  and  politically  influential  point 
of  view  he  was  successful,  but  the  financial  strain 
became  too  great  and  in  1878  the  Telegraph  was 
forced  to  cease  publication  and  its  pages  were  closed 
forever. 

In  the  early  fifties  a  Mr.  Cruger,  not  the  Cruger 
who  was  associated  with  Dr.  Moore  on  the  Tele- 
graph when  it  was  established  in  Houston,  began 
the  publication  of  a  tri-weekly  paper  called  The 
Morning  Star.  This  appears  to  have  been  quite 
an  ambitious  and  prominent  paper,  judging  by  the 
incomplete  files  of  it  now  in  the  Carnegie  Library. 

It  seems  that  everybody  wanted  to  start  a  news- 


(( 
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UNION  NATIONAL  BANK 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  89 

paper  in  Houston  after  the  war,  for  between  1865 
and  1880  there  were  no  less  than  twenty-one  that 
had  appeared,  splashed  about  in  the  troubled  waters 
of  journalism  and  then  sunk  beneath  the  waves  to 
rise  no  more.  Some  of  them  were  worthy  and  de- 
serving papers,  but  the  majority  of  them  were  catch- 
penny affairs  that  were  started  "on  a  shoestring/* 
merely  to  get  hold  of  a  little  cash  from  a  confiding 
public.  An  exception  was  the  Houston  Age,  owned 
later  by  Mr.  Fourmy,  the  Directory  man  at  present 
associated  with  Mr.  Morrison.  The  Age  became 
famous  under  the  editorial  management  of  Major 
Dan  McGary,  and  also  through  the  caustic  articles 
contributed  by  Col.  Dick  Westcott,  during  heated 
political  campaigns,  and  all  campaigns  were  that 
during  the  existence  of  the  Age. 

In  1880,  Mr.  Gail  Johnson,  a  grandson  of  Mr. 
Gail  Borden,  the  founder  of  the  old  Telegraph,  es- 
tablished the  Houston  Post.  This  paper  had  am- 
ple financial  backing  and  had  an  able  and  well  or- 
ganized editorial  and  business  force.  It  was  a  bright, 
newsy  paper  and  soon  secured  a  strong  foothold  in 
Houston  and  throughout  the  State  as  well.  There 
is  no  question  that  it  would  have  ultimately  become 
one  of  the  leading  papers  of  the  State  but  for  a 
fatal  error  committed  by  Judge  Johnson,  the  father 
of  Mr.  Gail  Johnson  who  had  founded  the  Post. 
The  Judge  became  deeply  interested  in  the  paper, 
and,  being  an  ardent  Republican,  he  conceived  an 
idea  that  he  could  make  the  Post  a  power  in  politics 
by  supporting  a  candidate  against  the  regular  nom- 


90  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

inee  of  the  Democratic  party.  The  Judge  lost  sight 
of  the  fact  that  Texas  had  so  recently  emerged  from 
the  reconstruction,  scalawag  rule  that  had  cursed  the 
State,  and  that  the  average  citizen  associated  the 
name  "Republican"  with  all  that  was  despicable  and 
contemptible.  Judge  John  Ireland  was  the  regular 
Democratic  nominee  and  he  was  opposed  by  Col. 
Wash  Jones,  who  ran  as  an  independent  candidate. 
The  Post  supported  Jones,  and  did  so  in  such  a  mas- 
terly manner  as  to  attract  attention  and  cause  a  de- 
mand for  the  paper.  The  circulation  increased  rap- 
idly and  continued  to  increase  until  the  day  of  elec- 
tion. Then  Ireland  was  triumphantly  elected  and 
the  bubble  burst.  The  circulation  dropped  off  more 
rapidly  than  it  had  increased.  The  paper  had  lots 
of  money  behind  it,  however,  and  continued  its  ca- 
reer just  as  though  nothing  had  occurred  to  mar 
the  serenity  of  its  course. 

Mr.  Gail  Johnson  had  grown  disgusted  and  had 
disposed  of  his  interest  to  his  father,  who  in  1883 
sold  the  Post  to  a  syndicate  of  Houston  capitalists, 
who  had  conceived  the  idea  of  converting  it  into  a 
great  Democratic  State  paper.  They  secured  the 
services  of  Mr.  Hardenbrook,  an  experienced  news- 
paper man,  and  placed  him  in  full  charge,  supply- 
ing him  with  plenty  of  money  and  giving  him  a 
free  hand  to  do  as  he  chose.  Hardenbrook  brought 
Mr.  Tobe  Mitchell  from  St.  Louis  and  placed  him 
in  charge  of  the  editorial  room.  Hardenbrook  and 
Mitchell  spent  money  freely  and  soon  made  the 
Post  one  of  the  leading  papers  of  the  South.  In 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  91 


eight  or  nine  months  they  spent  very  nearly 
000.  Then  the  backers  of  the  paper  became  alarmed 
and  one  by  one  withdrew.  Then  the  crash  came 
and  the  paper  suspended  publication  suddenly. 

The  suspension  of  the  Post  left  Houston  with- 
out a  morning  paper  and  to  supply  the  defect  Dr. 
S.  O.  Young  organized  a  company  composed  of 
practical  printers  and  newspaper  men  and  began 
the  publication  of  a  morning  paper  which  was  called 
The  Houston  Chronicle.  Mr.  Baker,  who  now 
owned  the  Post  plant,  allowed  the  company  the  use 
cf  it  and  also  allowed  them  to  use  the  large  supply 
of  white  paper  the  Post  had  on  hand  when  it  sus- 
pended, charging  only  for  what  was  actually  used 
at  cost  price.  The  Chronicle  was  not  a  brilliant 
sheet,  but  it  was  an  honest  and  fairly  good  paper. 
It  was  run  strictly  on  the  pay-as-you-go  principle 
and  at  the  end.  of  its  first  year,  while  it  had  an 
empty  treasury,  it  did  not  owe  a  dollar  to  any  one. 

After  an  existence  of  very  nearly  eighteen 
months  Dr.  Young,  who  had  secured  entire  con- 
trol of  the  Chronicle,  merged  it  with  the  Journal, 
an  afternoon  paper  owned  by  Professor  Girardeau 
and  Mr.  J.  L.  Watson.  The  Journal  ceased  pub- 
lication and  the  new  morning  paper  was  called  the 
Houston  Daily  Post.  The  first  issue  of  the  Post 
was  on  April  5,  1885.  Effort  was  made  to  publish 
a  more  pretentious  paper  than  the  Chronicle  had 
been,  but  that  increased  the  expense,  so  that  seri- 
ous complications  arose.  Professor  Girardeau  be- 
came disgusted  and  turned  his  back  on  journalism. 


92  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Messrs.  Young  and  Watson  purchased  his  interest 
and  continued  the  struggle.  The  loss  to  the  paper 
of  such  a  man  as  Professor  Girardeau  was  a  seri- 
ous embarassment.  However,  it  was  a  blessing  in 
disguise,  for  the  gentlemen  were  enabled  to  secure 
Col.  R.  M.  Johnston  as  editorial  manager.  Colonel 
Johnston,  as  everybody  knows,  is  one  of  the  best 
and  most  practical  newspaper  men  in  the  country. 

In  September  of  the  same  year,  Dr.  Young 
received  a  flattering  offer  from  the  Galveston 
News  to  become  one  of  its  editorial  writers.  He 
gave  his  interest  in  the  Post  to  Messrs.  Watson  and 
Johnston  and  went  to  Galveston.  This  left  Watson 
and  Johnston  sole  proprietors  of  the  Post.  They 
managed  to  keep  their  heads  above  water  for  about 
a  year  and  in  1886,  they  re-organized  the  Post, 
turning  it  into  a  stock  company.  Even  after  that 
the  Post  had  uphill  sailing  for  a  year  or  two,  but 
finally  the  magnificent  ability  of  Colonel  Johnston 
as  an  editorial  manager,  backed  by  the  absolute 
genius  of  Watson  in  the  business  office,  began  to 
tell  and  the  Post  became  what  it  is  today,  one  of  the 
great  newspapers  of  the  Southwest. 

Mr.  W.  H.  Bailey,  a  bright  young  newspaper 
man,  began  the  publication  of  an  afternoon  paper 
called  the  Herald.  This  was  a  regular  live  wire 
and  was  fully  charged  all  the  time.  Mr.  Bailey 
believed  in  telling  the  truth  all  the  time  irrespective 
of  whom  the  truth  might  be  about  and  he  did  so  in 
every  issue  of  the  Herald.  Xo  one  was  too  high 
and  prominent  to  escape  criticism  and  censure  if 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  93 

he  deserved  them.  He  played  no  favorites,  but 
went  after  wrong-doers  wherever  discovered.  The 
result  was  almost  continual  warfare  for  the  first 
few  months  of  the  Herald's  existence,  and,  what 
was  more  to  the  editor's  satisfaction,  an  immense 
circulation  for  the  paper.  Subscriptions  and  adver- 
tisements poured  in  and  the  Herald  became  one  of 
the  leading  papers  in  South  Texas. 

After  a  red  hot  existence  of  eighteen  years  the 
Herald  was  finally  sold  to  Mr.  M.  E.  Foster,  who 
had  organized  the  Houston  Chronicle  and  who 
bought  the  plant  and  good  will  of  the  Herald. 
The  Houston  Chronicle  began  publication  on  Oc- 
tober 14,  1902,  and  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  it  was  a  success  from  its  very  first  issue.  Its 
editor  and  proprietor,  Mr.  M.  E.  Foster,  was  no 
novice,  having  been  managing  editor  of  the  Hous- 
ton Post  and  having  had  large  experience  and  train- 
ing. He  has  made  the  Chronicle  one  of  the  leading 
State  papers  and  its  influence  is  great  both  in 
Houston  and  throughout  the  State. 

On  May  18,  1880,  a  number  of  Texas  editors  as- 
sembled in  the  parlor  of  the  Hutchins  House  and 
organized  the  Texas  Press  association.  For  four 
years  the  association  met  in  Houston  and  then  de- 
termined to  meet  each  year  in  a  different  city.  From 
a  mere  handful  of  members  at  the  beginning  the 
association  has  grown  to  be  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  important  in  the  South  and  its  annual  meet- 
ings are  looked  forward  to  with  pleasurable  antici- 
pation by  the  members  for  they  are  always  most 
profitable  and  enjoyable. 


CHAPTER  FIVE. 

Houston's  First  Bank  and  Banker — The  Great 
Banks  of  Today — Houston  the  Financial  Center 
of  the  State — Houston's  Great  Trust  Companies. 

Houston's  first  bank  was  actually  one  year  older 
than  Houston  itself,  having  received  its  charter 
from  the  Congress  of  Coahuila  and  Texas  before 
Texas  became  a  Republic.  It  was  an  ambitious 
corporation,  too,  having  a  capital  stock  of  $1,000,- 
000,  some  of  which  was  actual  cash,  and  its  charter 
made  it  a  bank  of  issue.  Mr.  S.  M.  Williams  was 
its  president  and  Mr.  J.  W.  McMillan  its  cashier. 
Among  the  first  acts  of  the  Congress  of  the  Re- 
public of  Texas  was  a  bill  for  the  relief  of  the  in- 
corporators  of  this  bank,  whereby  their  vested  rights 
were  recognized  and  protected.  The  institution 
was  not  popoular  and  constant  warfare  was  made 
on  it.  It  finally  received  its  death  blow  when  the 
Supreme  Court  annulled  its  charter. 

Mr.  T.  W.  House,  Sr.,  Mr.  W.  J.  Hutchins, 
Mr.  Cornelius  Ennis  and  others  of  the  early  mer- 
chants conducted  banks  of  their  own  in  connection 
with  their  cotton  and  mercantile  business.  In  1854 
Mr.  B.  A.  Shepherd  opened  an  independent  bank, 
engaging  exclusively  in  the  banking  business  and 
this  was  the  first  bank  in  Texas  and  Mr.  Shepherd 
was  the  first  banker.  The  million  dollar  bank  re- 
ferred to  in  the  foregoing  paragraph  had  other 
features  than  banking,  which  leaves  MT.  Shep- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  95 

herd's  bank  the  honor  of  being  the  first  genuine 
bank.  In  1873  Mr.  Hutchins  closed  out  his  bank 
and  devoted  himself  to  his  wholesale  business.  Mr. 
House  reversed  Mr.  Hutchins'  process  in  part,  for 
while  he  did  not  close  out  his  cotton  and  wholesale 
business,  he  separated  them  from  his  bank  and 
gave  the  latter  more  of  his  attention.  When  Mr. 
House  died  in  1881,  his  oldest  son,  T.  W.  House, 
Jr.,  bought  the  interests  of  his  brothers  in  the  bank 
and  devoted  his  whole  time  to  its  affairs.  House's 
Bank  soon  became  one  of  the  greatest  financial 
institutions  in  the  State.  During  the  great  panic 
of  1*907,  due  to  many  complications  and  circum- 
stances, it  was  forced  to  close  its  doors. 

The  City  Bank  of  Houston  began  business  No- 
vember 1,  1870,  with  a  capital  stock  of  $250,000.  It 
did  business  for  fifteen  years,  but  in  1885  was 
forced  to  suspend  payment  and  went  into  the  hands 
of  a  receiver. 

The  Houston  Savings  Bank,  organized  in  1874, 
suspended  payment  and  closed  its  doors  in  1886. 
The  public  lost  very  little  money  by  the  failure  of 
this  bank  or  by  that  of  the  City  Bank,  which  had 
occurred  the  year  before.  The  First  National  Bank 
was  organized  in  1866  by  Mr.  B.  A.  Shepherd  and 
Mr.  T.  M.  Bagby,  the  latter  being  its  first  presi- 
dent. On  the  death  of  Mr.  Bagby,  Mr.  Shepherd 
became  president  and  when  he  died  his  son-in-law, 
Mr.  A.  S.  Root,  succeeded  him.  A  few  years  ago 
Mr.  Root  died  and  Mr.  O.  L.  Cochran,  another  son- 
in-law  of  Mr.  Shepherd,  became  and  is  still  presi- 


96  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

dent.     This  bank  is  one  of  the  strongest  institu- 
tions in  the  country.    Its  original  capital  was  $100,- 
000.    In  1906  this  was  increased  to  $500,000.    In 
1909  the  stock  was  again  doubled  and  in  1912  it  was 
increased  to  $2,000,000.    Its  business  has  also  shown 
a  phenomenal  growth,  having  about  doubled  in 
three  years.     September  1,  1909,  its  deposits  were 
$4,764,967.     September  1,  1910,  the  deposits  had 
grown  to  $6,421,938.    Four  months  later,  January 
7,  1911,  they  were  $7,953,096.    Two  months  later, 
March  7,  1911,  they  were  $8,432,907.     On  April 
18,  1912,  the  deposits  were  slightly  under  $9,000,- 
000,  or  to  be  exact,  $8,973,999.80.     The  home  of 
this  bank  is  one  of  the  handsomest  buildings  in  the 
city.    It  is  only  eight-stories  high,  but  it  has  an  im- 
mense floor  space,    larger    than    any  bank  in  the 
South.    It  has  a  fine  frontage  on  Main  street  and 
runs  back  for  more  than  half  a  block  on  Franklin 
avenue.     In  addition  to  this,  it  has  an  ell  that  ex- 
tends from  the  Franklin  side  far  back  towards  the 
middle  of  the  block.     The  entire  first,  or  ground 
floor  is  used  by  the  bank   while   the   other    seven 
stories  are  used  as  offices.    The  building  is  of  rein- 
forced concrete,  steel  structure  and  is  fire-proof 
in  every  way.    It  has  its  own  water  supply,  derived 
from  a  large  artesian  well.    It  also  has  its  own  heat- 
ing and  electric  light  plant.    There  are  three  large 
and  rapid  elevators  and  the  building  is  equipped 
from  top  to  bottom  with  every  device  that  con- 
tributes to  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  its  ten- 
ants.   The  officers  of  the  First  National  Bank  are: 


^hs 


THE  CARTER  BUILDING 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  97 

O.  L.  Cochran,  president;  J.  T.  Scott,  first  vice 
president;  H.  R.  Eldridge,  second  vice  president; 
W.  S.  Cochran,  cashier;  W.  E.  Hertford  and  F.  E. 
Russell,  assistant  cashiers. 

It  was  exactly  twenty  years  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  First  National  Bank  before  another  was 
organized.  This  was  the  Commercial  National 
Bank,  organized  in  1886,  with  a  capital  stock  of 
*.">(MM)00.  This  bank  did  an  immense  business  and 
had  large  deposits.  It  was  recently  merged  with 
the  South  Texas  National  Bank. 

The  Houston  National  was  the  third  national 
bank  organized  in  Houston.  It  was  chartered  in 
1889,  but  in  1009  obtained  a  new  charter  under  the 
name  of  the  Houston  National  Exchange  Bank. 
This  bank  has  a  most  extraordinary  record.  Its 
capital  stock  is  only  $200,000,  while  its  surplus  and 
undivided  profits  amount  to  three-fourths  of  its 
capital  stock.  It  has  deposits  of  very  nearly  four 
million  dollars.  The  officers  of  the  Houston  Na- 
tional Exchange  Bank  are:  Joseph  F.  Meyer, 
president;  M.  M.  Graves,  vice  president;  Henry 
S.  Fox,  Jr.,  active  vice  president;  Joseph  W. 
Hertford,  cashier;  F.  F.  Bearing  and  W.  B.  Hil- 
liard,  assistant  cashiers. 

The  South  Texas  National  Bank  was  the  fourth 
national  bank  organized  in  Houston.  It  obtained 
its  charter  in  1890.  On  March  2,  1912,  the  South 
Texas  National  Bank  absorbed  the  Texas  Commer- 
cial National  Bank.  The  new  bank  thus  formed 
became  the  South  Texas  Commercial  National 


98  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Bank,  with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000.  Nineteen  days 
after  the  consolidation  the  deposits  of  the  new  bank 
were  $11,000,000,  while  the  capital  and  surplus 
amounted  to  nearly  $2,000,000. 

The  home  of  this  bank  is  one  of  the  finest  and, 
architecturally,  most  beautiful  buildings  in  the 
South.  The  front  of  the  building  is  perfectly  plain, 
but  is  of  the  purest  marble.  There  are  four  col- 
umns supporting  the  main  pediment,  each  turned 
from  a  solid  slab  of  marble,  the  shafts  of  each  being 
twenty -two  feet  long.  The  interior  of  the  building 
is  more  beautiful  than  its  exterior.  Only  the  finest 
marble  and  ornamental  bronze  were  used  in  the  in- 
terior finish  and  the  result  is  most  pleasing.  The 
high  arched  ceiling  is  an  attractive  feature.  Only 
the  very  best  artists  and  superior  workers  were  em- 
ployed in  finishing  this  building  and  the  results  ob- 
tained by  them  speak  volumes  for  their  taste  and 
skill.  The  following  are  the  officers  of  the  South 
Texas  Commercial  Bank:  Chairman  of  the  board, 
Charles  Dillingham;  president,  W.  B.  Chew;  active 
vice  president  and  cashier,  B.  D.  Harris;  vice  presi- 
dents, James  A.  Baker,  John  M.  Dorrance,  J.  E. 
McAshan,  Thornwell  Fay  and  Judge  T.  J.  Free- 
man. Assistant  cashiers,  August  De  Zavalla,  P. 
J.  Evershade,  Paul  G.  Taylor.  There  are  twenty- 
five  directors,  being  the  directors  of  the  two  con- 
solidated banks.  They  are:  James  A.  Baker,  F. 
A.  Heitmann,  Conrad  Bering,  O.  T.  Holt,  R.  Lee 
Blaffer,  R.  S.  Lovett,  Horace  Booth,  H.  F.  Mc- 
Gregor, Chester  H.  Bryan,  J.  E.  McAshan,  W.  B. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  99 

Chew,  C.  H.  Markham,  James  D.  Dawson,  J.  V. 
Neuhaus,  Charles  Dillingham,  Edwin  B.  Parker, 
John  M.  Dorrance,  S.  C.  Red,  Thornwell  Fay, 
Daniel  Ripley,  Thomas  J.  Freeman,  Cleveland 
Sewall,  B.  D.  Harris,  J.  J.  Settegast,  Jr  . 

Houston's  fifth  national  bank  was  the  Union 
National  Bank,  organized  in  1905.  This  bank 
represents  three  original  banks.  The  Union  Bank 
and  Trust  Company  was  chartered  in  1905.  In 
1908  it  absorbed  the  Merchants  National  Bank. 
When  this  was  done  the  bank  took  its  present  name 
and  was  chartered  as  the  Union  National  Bank 
with  a  capital  of  $1,000,000.  This  bank  is  one  of  the 
strongest  banks  in  the  South  and  does  an  immense 
business.  The  twelve-story  steel,  reinforced  concrete 
granite  and  brick  building  of  this  bank  is  one  of 
the  finest  and  most  attractive  buildings  in  the  city. 
There  are  twelve  stories  above  ground  and  an  im- 
mense basement,  thus  making  the  building  prac- 
tically thirteen  stories.  The  basement  and  ground 
floor  are  used  exclusively  by  the  bank,  while  the 
other  stories  are  devoted  to  modern  offices.  The 
basement  is  fitted  up  as  elegantly  as  other  parts  of 
the  building  and  besides  the  huge  vaults,  contains 
private  rooms  for  the  patrons  of  the  bank.  There 
are  safety  vaults  and  store  rooms  for  the  safe  keep- 
ing of  bulky  valuables. 

The  building  is  entirely  independent  of  all  out- 
side utilities,  having  its  own  artesian  water  supply, 
its  own  heating  and  electric  light  plant  and  its  own 
chilled  air  system  for  use  in  the  summer.  There 


100  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

are  several  large  elevators  in  the  building,  thus 
making  access  to  every  floor  an  easy  thing.  In- 
cluding the  ground  the  building  cost  almost  ex- 
actly $1,000,000.  The  officers  of  the  Union  Na- 
tional Bank  are :  J.  S.  Rice,  president ;  T.  C.  Dunn, 
George  Hammen,  W.  T.  Carter,  Abe  Levy,  J.  M. 
Rockwell,  Jesse  H.  Jones  and  C.  G.  Pillot,  vice 
presidents;  DeWitt  C.  Dunn,  cashier;  D.  W. 
Cooley  and  H.  B.  Finch,  assistant  cashiers. 

Houston's  youngest  national  bank,  the  Lumber- 
mans  National,  seems  to  have  been  something  of 
an  absorber  and  consolidate*  itself.  It  was  organ- 
ized and  chartered  in  1907  with  a  capital  of  $400,- 
000.  When  two  years  old  it  absorbed  the  National 
City  Bank  and  the  next  year  the  American  National 
Bank  and  Trust  Company  liquidated  and  turned 
over  its  business  to  the  Lumbermans  Bank.  This 
bank  is  one  of  the  strong  financial  institutions  of 
Houston  and  of  South  Texas,  and  does  an  immense 
business.  The  officers  of  the  Lumbermans  Na- 
tional Bank  are:  S.  F.  Carter,  president;  Guy  M. 
Bryan,  active  vice  president;  H.  M.  Garwood  and 
W.  D.  Cleveland,  vice  presidents;  Lynn  P.  Talley, 
cashier;  M.  S.  Murray  and  H.  M.  Wilkens,  assist- 
ant cashiers. 

The  fact  that  Houston  is  the  real  financial  cen- 
ter of  the  State  is  shown  by  the  report  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department  in  Washington  issued  February 
20,  1912.  In  the  report  the  standing  of  six  leading 
cities  is  given  and  Houston  occupies  first  place  with 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  101 

a  wide  margin  over  her  nearest  competitor,  Dallas. 
The  figures  for  these  cities  are: 

Houston — Loans  and  discounts,  $22,628,110; 
lawful  money  reserve,  $3,728,112;  individual  de- 
posits, $22,425,250. 

Dallas — Loans  and  discounts,  $17,221,605;  law- 
ful reserves,  $2,021,996;  individual  deposits,  $17,- 
556,376. 

Fort  Worth — Loans  and  discounts,  $12,277,281 ; 
legal  reserves,  $1,277,660;  individual  deposits, 
$10,287,269. 

San  Antonio — Loans  and  discounts,  $9,078,658; 
lawful  reserves,  $1,716,011;  individual  deposits, 
$9,105,007. 

Waco — Loans  and  discounts,  $5,882,276;  lawful 
reserves,  $711,567;  individual  deposits,  $5,118,521. 

Galveston — Loans  and  discounts,  $3,901,517; 
lawful  reserves,  $764,258;  individual  deposits,  $8,- 
609,664. 

The  foregoing  pages  tell  of  Houston's  financial 
strength,  but  they  tell  only  one-half  of  the  story. 
Banks  represent  the  commercial  and  business  life 
of  a  community,  their  condition  giving  in  concise 
form  the  extent  and  volume  of  trade  in  a  way  that 
can  be  understood  by  all.  In  the  very  nature  of 
things,  banks,  no  matter  how  great  and  strong,  can 
not  add  to  the  physical  and  material  growth  of  a 
community  except  indirectly.  Banks  prosper  by 
lending  money  for  short  periods  on  commercial  pa- 
per and  similar  securities.  Their  collaterals  must 
be  such  as  can  be  easily  turned  into  cash  on  short 


102  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

notice.  Lands,  mortgages,  vendors  lien  notes  and 
such  things,  considered  gilt  edge  securities  the  world 
over,  are  not  so  considered  by  banks.  The  law  even 
goes  so  far  as  to  prohibit  National  banks  taking 
land  as  security  for  loans. 

It  is  for  the  purpose  of  handling  just  such  busi- 
ness as  the  banks  can  not  or  will  not  handle,  that 
trust  companies  are  formed.  There  is  an  indirect 
community  of  interest  between  the  banks  and  trust 
companies,  but  there  are  no  conflicting  interests. 
One  represents  the  financial  and  trade  conditions  of 
the  community  while  the  other  represents  the  ma- 
terial growth,  expansion  and  development  of  the 
community.  No  bank  is  willing  to  undertake  to  do 
the  many  things  that  modern  business  methods  de- 
mand shall  be  done.  Such  things  are  entirely  with- 
out the  province  of  banks.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of 
doing  these  things  that  trust  companies  have  been 
formed.  The  trust  companies  perform  a  dual  duty. 
They  care  for  and  conserve  estates  placed  in  their 
charge,  and  they  also  afford  a  source  from  which 
may  be  obtained  long  time  loans.  Usually  these 
loans  are  made  for  the  purpose  of  improving  and 
developing  intrinsically  valuable  property;  the 
property  itself  being  taken  as  security  for  payment 
of  the  debt.  The  length  of  the  loan,  the  rate  of  in- 
terest paid  by  the  borrower  and  the  absolute  security 
afforded  by  the  property,  held  as  collateral,  make 
such  a  transaction  a  safe  and  sure  investment  for 
the  trust  company,  while  the  reasonable  interest, 
paid  by  the  borrower  and  the  long  time  given  him 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          103 

in  which  to  pay  back  the  loan,  make  the  transaction 
a  very  advantageous  one  for  the  borrower. 

The  wonderful  growth  of  Houston  during  the 
last  seven  or  eight  years  has  led  to  the  formation 
of  trust  companies  here  and  Houston  now  has  sev- 
eral of  the  strongest  in  the  South. 

The  oldest  trust  company  in  Texas  was  organized 
in  Houston  thirty-seven  years  ago,  in  1875.  The 
history  of  those  dark  and  stormy  days  would  lead 
one  to  think  that  large  financial  schemes  would  have 
no  place  in  them,  and  yet  the  Houston  Land  and 
Trust  Company  was  chartered  during  the  darkest 
days  of  the  city.  It  was  originally  chartered  as  a 
land  and  trust  company  and  did  only  a  small  and 
unimportant  business  for  years.  In  1889  it  was 
reorganized  and  took  out  a  new  charter  which  en- 
abled it  to  do  a  regular  trust  and  mortgage  busi- 
ness. It  is  now  one  of  the  most  important  institu- 
tions of  its  kind  in  the  country  and  does  an  immense 
and  highly  profitable  business.  Its  business  is 
strictly  that  of  a  trust  company  and  in  no  way  does 
it  encroach  on  the  business  done  by  banks.  The  fol- 
lowing was  the  condition  of  this  company  at  the 
close  of  business,  March  31, 1912: 

Capital  stock $   250,000.00 

Surplus  340,000.00 

Undivided  profits 2,980.00 

Time  certificates  of  deposit 1,313,364.44 

Accrued  interest  payable   13,063.66 

Estate  and  trust  account 104,827.27 

Dividend  No.  36,  payable  May  1,  1912 7,500.00 


$2,031,735.37 


104  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

The  officers  are:  O.  L.  Cochran,  president;  R. 
E.  Paine,  vice  president;  P.  B.  Timpson,  vice  presi- 
dent; W.  S.  Patton,  secretary  and  treasurer;  O.  R. 
Weyrich,  assistant  secretary. 

The  Southern  Trust  Company  was  organized  in 
1909  and  began  business  in  January,  1910.  Its  cap- 
ital stock  was  $500,000,  but  this  was  almost  immedi- 
ately increased  to  $800,000.  The  success  of  this 
company  has  been  phenomenal.  It  is  only  a  little 
over  two  years  old  and  yet  it  has  earned  over  half  a 
million  dollars  and  has  paid  large  dividends  since 
its  organization.  Following  is  the  statement  of  this 
company  at  the  close  of  business  April  18,  1912: 

Capital  stock  paid  in $    800,000.00 

Surplus  fund 400,000.00 

Undivided  profits,  net 168,278.21 

Trust  funds 6,466.10 

Reserved  for  taxes,  1912 4,500.00 

Bills  payable  and  re-discounts 140,000.00 

Certificates  of  deposits 177,300.00 

Accounts  payable 2,438.28 

$1,698,982.59 

The  officers  of  the  Southern  Trust  Company 
are:  James  L.  Autry,  president;  Travis  Holland, 
vice  president;  J.  W.  Powers,  Jr.,  secretary;  Bev- 
erly W.  Ward,  assistant  secretary;  Ernest  Carroll, 
treasurer. 

The  Texas  Trust  Company  was  organized  in 
1909  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000.  It  at  once 
established  for  itself  a  reputation  for  soundness 
and  conservatism,  which  made  at  once  towards  its 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          105 

success.  The  company  was  in  active  operation  for 
slightly  over  two  years  and  during  that  time  paid 
dividends  of  10  per  cent  and  accumulated  a  surplus 
of  very  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars.  On 
September  1,  1911,  the  Texas  Trust  Company  con- 
solidated with  the  Bankers'  Trust  Company,  thus 
making  the  latter  one  of  the  greatest  trust  com- 
panies in  the  South. 

The  Bankers'  Trust  Company  was  chartered  in 
1909  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000,  and  a  paid  ill 
surplus  of  $25,000.  The  capital  stock  was  soon  in- 
creased  to  $1,000,000.  The  volume  of  business  done 
by  this  company  was  very  great  and  its  success  was 
phenomenal.  September  1,  1911,  the  Bankers' 
Trust  Company  absorbed  the  Texas  Trust  Com- 
pany, at  the  same  time  increasing  its  capital  stock 
to  $2,000,000.  This  company  transacts  a  general 
trust  business  and  is  fully  equipped  in  all  its  depart- 
ments to  meet  the  financial  requirements  of  its 
patrons.  It  takes  charge  of  real  and  personal  es- 
tates, and  acts  as  executor,  administrator,  receiver 
and  trustee. 

Following  is  the  statement  of  this  company, 
issued  at  the  close  of  business  April  18,  1912: 

Capital  stock $2,000,000.00 

Surplus  and  profits  (net) 881,638.23 

Reserved  for  taxes 12,000.00 

Demand  deposits   44,102.35 

Certificates  of  deposit   723,496.21 

Cashier's  checks  4,302.00 

Trust  funds  900,992.46 

Re-discounts  .                        12,973.35 


Total $4,579,504.35 


106  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

The  officers  of  the  Bankers'  Trust  Company  are : 
Jesse  H.  Jones,  chairman  of  the  board;  J.  8.  Rice, 
president;  Tom  M.  Taylor,  N.  E.  Meador,  J.  M. 
Rockwell,  James  A.  Baker,  A.  M.  Levy,  W.  T. 
Carter,  C.  G.  Pillot  and  J.  W.  Link,  vice  presi- 
dents; C.  M.  Malone,  secretary;  F.  J.  Heyne,  treas- 
urer and  cashier;  Burke  Baker,  bond  officer;  Wil- 
liam Malone,  real  estate  officer;  Andrews,  Ball  & 
Streetman,  counsel. 

The  American  Trust  Company  is  a  young  affair, 
being  only  about  a  year  old.  It  was  organized  in 
1911  with  a  capital  stock  of  $500,000.  This  com- 
pany has  banking  privileges  and  intends  taking 
full  advantage  of  them.  Its  business  at  present  is 
both  bank  and  trust  business  and  it  bids  fair  to  be 
one  of  the  strong  financial  institutions  of  Houston, 
both  as  a  bank  and  as  a  trust  company.  Its  officers 
are:  J.  D.  Hefley,  president;  J.  E.  Duff,  vice 
president;  N.  B.  Sligh,  treasurer. 

The  Commonwealth  Trust  Company  is  Hous- 
ton's latest  trust  company.  It  has  just  been  organ- 
ized, though  it  has  not  yet  opened  its  doors  for  busi- 
ness. Its  capital  stock  of  $500,000.00  has  been 
over-subscribed.  Its  charter  is  one  of  wide  scope 
and  gives  it  large  privileges  and  an  ample  field  of 
operation.  The  charter  is  that  of  the  First  State 
Bank  of  HiUsboro,  Texas.  Mr.  W.  E.  Richards, 
the  president  of  the  present  trust  company,  pur- 
chased the  Hillsboro  charter  and  at  once  organized 
The  Commonwealth  Trust  Company.  The  officers 
of  the  company  are:  W.  E.  Richards,  president; 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          107 

Exile  Burkitt,  active  vice  president;  Horace  Booth, 
Geo.  W.  Riddle,  W.  R.  Allison,  Monta  J.  Moore, 
W.  H.  Gill,  H.  H.  Simmons,  John  H.  Foster, 
John  S.  Callaway  and  R.  E.  Burt,  directors. 

The  Continental  Trust  Company  (without  bank- 
ing privileges)  is  now  in  process  of  organization, 
here  in  Houston.  This  is  to  be  one  of  the  greatest 
and  most  powerful  trust  companies  in  the  country. 
The  capital  stock  of  the  company  will  be  $1,000,- 
000.00,  while  there  will  also  be  a  paid-in  surplus  of 
$1,000,000.00  The  prospectus  of  this  company 
gives  so  clear  an  idea  of  the  functions  of  a  trust 
company,  and  particularly  of  the  objects  of  the 
present  company,  that  the  following  liberal  extract 
is  taken  from  it: 

"The  Continental  Trust  Company  (without 
banking  privileges)  of  Houston,  Texas,  has  been 
organized  to  assist  in  supplying  the  urgent  demand 
for  a  place  of  sufficient  magnitude  and  strength  to 
which  application  may  be  made  for  absolutely  good 
first  mortgage  or  vendor's  lien  loans;  where  per- 
sons seeking  investments  may  expect  to  find  good 
securities  in  amounts  commensurate  with  their  re- 
spective means  available  for  employment;  being  a 
medium  where  the  borrower  and  investor  come  to- 
gether; also  where  reliable  information  concerning 
relative  values  of  property  may  be  obtained  with  a 
view  of  creating  closer  relations  with  Eastern  and 
foreign  connections  to  the  end  of  filling  a  distinct 
need  incident  to  the  upbuilding  of  a  country  already 


108  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  or 

demonstrated  to  be  resourceful  and  rapidly  increas- 
ing in  wealth. 

"Practically  every  city  in  Texas  is  experiencing 
a  large  demand  for  gilt-edge  first  mortgage  and 
vendor's  lien  loans,  and  trust  companies  in  Texas, 
which  are  only  a  few  in  number,  are  unable  to  sup- 
ply but  a  small  percentage  of  such  demand.  *  *  * 
The  powers  which  the  company  will  exercise  are 
those  of  the  soundest  institutions  of  this  character, 
omitting  banking  functions,  and  especially  the  re- 
ceipt of  deposits  subject  to  check.  It  will  act  chief- 
ly as  intermediary  between  the  investor  and  the  bor- 
rower, between  capital  and  those  who  need  capital 
to  develop  the  resources  of  Texas.  Its  profits  will 
be  derived  from  expert  service  which  it  will  offer 
the  investor,  together  with  the  assurance  of  its  large 
financial  responsibility  in  placing  and  safeguard- 
ing funds ;  and  to  those  needing  capital,  by  furnish- 
ing a  market  for  securities  and  rendering  assist- 
ance necessary  to  place  them  in  such  form  as  will 
make  them  marketable." 

Mr.  S.  F.  Carter,  president  of  the  Lumbermans 
National  Bank;  Hon.  Jonathan  Lane,  Mr.  John 
H.  Thompson,  vice  president  and  general  manager 
of  the  Guarantee  Life  Insurance  Company  of 
Houston;  Mr.  James  F.  Sadler,  Jr.,  and  other  busi- 
ness associates  of  these  gentlemen  are  prominent  in 
organizing  this  company,  so  it  is  quite  evident  tKat 
its  success  is  assured. 


CHAPTER  SIX. 

Early  Church  Services — Organization  of  the  First 
Churches — History  of  Church  Building  in  Hous- 
ton— Houston  Today  a  City  of  Churches. 

When  the  Aliens  laid  out  Houston  they  set  aside 
the  quarter  of  a  block  on  the  northwest  corner  of 
Capitol  and  Main  "for  church  purposes."  The 
gift  was  to  no  denomination  or  sect,  but  was  to  all. 
A  year  or  two  later  there  was  a  small  building 
erected  on  one  of  the  lots  and  all  denominations  had 
the  use  of  it.  After  the  State  House  was  built  re- 
ligious services  were  held  in  one  of  its  halls. 

While  there  is  a  legend  that  the  first  religious 
service  ever  held  in  Houston  was  under  the  spread- 
ing branches  of  a  tree  that  grew  on  Market  Square, 
in  1837,  the  fact  remains  that  the  first  authentic 
evangelical  service  was  that  which  occurred  in  1836. 
The  fact  is  a  matter  of  record  that  Rev.  Mr.  Mor- 
rell,  an  itinerant  Baptist  preacher,  who  came  to 
Texas  before  San  Jacinto,  preached  in  Houston  in 
1836. 

It  is  rather  singular  that  with  all  the  "hard  cases" 
that  were  in  Houston  in  the  early  days,  and  the 
consequent  necessity  for  taking  precautions  for  con- 
trolling them,  the  first  vigilance  committee  formed 
in  Houston  should  have  been  composed  entirely  of 
preachers  and  that  the  object  of  the  committee 
should  have  been  to  guard  the  public  against  being 
imposed  on  by  fraudulent  preachers.  Such  was  the 
case,  however,  and  the  "Preachers'  Vigilance  Com- 


110  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

mittee"  was  formed  in  May  of  1837.  There  is  no 
record  of  their  executing  any  frauds,  or  of  anything 
else  they  did.  No  doubt  their  very  existence  warned 
away  frauds  and  thus  accomplished  what  they  de- 
sired without  further  exertion  on  their  part. 

The  first  church  to  secure  a  permanent  foothold 
in  Houston  was  the  Methodist,  which  perfected  an 
organization  in  1837,  the  year  after  the  founding 
of  Houston.  That  year  the  Aliens  donated  to  the 
Methodist  brethren  the  half  block  on  the  north  side 
of  Texas  avenue  between  Travis  and  Milam  streets. 
The  establishment  of  Methodism  here  was  almost 
entirely  the  work  of  one  individual,  the  late  honored 
and  revered  Charles  Shearn.  Mr.  Shearn  was  a 
most  earnest  and  devout  Christian  and  devoted  his 
life  to  the  advancement  of  his  church.  He  brought 
from  New  Orleans,  at  his  personal  expense,  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel,  gave  him  a  home  in  his  own 
house,  and  was  mainly  responsible  for  the  establish- 
ment, growth  and  influence  of  the  Methodist  church 
here.  In  later  years  he  gave  largely,  both  in  time 
and  money,  to  the  church  cause,  and  after  the  war 
he  built,  almost  entirely  with  his  own  money,  the 
church  on  Texas  avenue,  afterwards  torn  down 
when  the  site  was  sold.  When  the  valuable  prop- 
erty on  Texas  avenue  was  disposed  of,  and,  having 
money,  the  congregation  determined  to  build  an 
imposing  edifice,  they  put  up  a  magnificent  build- 
ing on  Main  street  and  so  far  forgot  their  old  bene- 
factor, in  the  days  of  their  prosperity,  that  his  name 
was  dropped  entirely  and  Shearn  Church  became 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  111 

the  First  Methodist  Church.  The  writer  is  not  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  probably  it 
is  a  bit  of  impertinence  for  him  to  express  an  opin- 
ion on  the  subject,  but  the  temptation  is  too  strong 
to  resist.  The  dropping  of  the  name  of  the  good 
old  saint  who  did  so  much  for  the  church  and  who, 
unaided  and  almost  alone,  placed  it  on  its  feet  and 
guided  it  on  the  way  to  prosperity,  was  an  act  by 
the  side  of  which  the  proverbial  ingratitude  of  re- 
publics sinks  into  insignificance.  The  First  Pres- 
byterian church  was  organized  in  the  Senate  cham- 
ber of  the  Capitol  building  in  1888.  Though  a 
church  organization  was  perfected  in  1888,  no  ef- 
fort was  made  to  erect  a  church  building  until  1848. 
One  reason  for  the  delay  was,  no  doubt,  the  fact 
that  the  Aliens  had  stipulated  that  all  churches 
should  have  free  use  of  the  site  on  Capitol  and  Main 
until  they  secured  building  sites  of  their  own,  when 
the  property  should  revert  to  the  Presbyterians  for 
their  sole  use.  Although,  by  1848,  all  the  various 
churches  did  not  have  permanent  homes  of  their 
own,  most  of  them  were  making  active  efforts  to 
secure  them,  so  the  Presbyterians  determined  to 
build.  Early  in  the  year  a  canvass  was  made,  funds 
secured,  and  the  same  year  the  First  Presbyterian 
church  was  erected  on  Main  street  near  the  corner 
of  Capitol.  It  was  a  large  frame  building,  facing 
Main  street,  and  was  used  by  the  congregation  for 
many  years,  or  until  destroyed  by  fire  in  1859. 

When  the  congregation  erected  a  new  building 
they  used  brick  and  faced  the  church  on  Capitol 
street.  Services  were  held  there  until,  in  1879,  the 


112  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

building  cracked  badly  and  was  declared  to  be  un- 
safe. The  building  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
torn  down  and  restored,  thus  making  it  safe.  The 
congregation  moved  into  their  restored  building 
early  in  1880,  the  first  sermon  being  preached  by 
their  new  pastor,  Rev.  E.  D.  Junkin,  who  in  ad- 
dition to  being  a  most  eloquent  and  Christian  gen- 
tleman, had  the  distinction  of  being  the  brother-in- 
law  of  the  famous  Confederate  General  Stonewall 
Jackson. 

Dr.  Junkin's  successor  was  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  Hayne 
Leavell.  Dr.  Leavell  resigned  in  1906  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  States  Jacobs,  the 
present  pastor. 

The  Presbyterians  have  had  fewer  pastors  than 
any  of  the  other  churches,  yet  few  as  they  have  had, 
they  have  lost  two  by  sea  tragedies.  In  1858  Rev. 
Mr.  Ruthvan  was  lost  at  sea.  He  was  going  from 
Galveston  to  New  Orleans  on  the  ill-fated  Nauti- 
lus, which  was  lost  in  a  great  storm  that  swept  the 
gulf.  All  the  passengers  and  crew  were  lost  with 
the  exception  of  a  negro  deck  hand,  who  clung  to 
9  bale  of  cotton  and  was  picked  up  by  a  passing  ves- 
sel a  day  or  two  later. 

In  1866,  Rev.  Dr.  Castleton  and  his  wife  took 
passage  out  of  Galveston  in  a  sailing  vessel.  From 
that  day  to  this  not  a  word  has  been  heard  from 
them,  nor  has  a  trace  of  the  vessel  ever  been  found. 

The  Episcopal  church  was  organized  in  1839, 
and  had  a  fairly  good  congregation  at  the  very 
start,  since  there  were  thirty-nine  adherents  of  that 


FIRST  NATIONAL  BANK  BUILDING 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  113 

denomination  present  at  the  initial  meeting.  The 
early  services  were  conducted  by  laymen  and  an  oc- 
casional itinerant  minister,  until  1845,  when  the 
members  adopted  a  constitution,  took  the  name  of 
Christ  church  and  determined  to  erect  a  house  of 
worship.  The  corner  stone  for  the  new  building 
was  laid  in  1846  and  the  building  was  consecrated 
by  Bishop  Freeman,  Bishop  of  Louisiana,  May  9, 
1847.  There  was  no  regular  pastor  of  Christ 
church  for  several  years,  but  services  were  held  reg* 
ularly,  lay  members  and  an  occasional  minister  of- 
ficiating. 

The  old  church  was  torn  down  and  another  erect- 
ed on  its  site  in  1859.  In  1876  that  building  was 
torn  down  to  make  place  for  a  third  church,  which 
in  turn  was  demolished  in  1893,  when  the  corner 
stone  of  the  present  beautiful  building  was  laid. 

Christ  church  runs  the  Methodist  a  close  race  in 
the  rapid  change  of  pastors,  for  up  to  1892  there 
had  been  no  less  than  fifteen  regular  pastors.  Tfiat 
year,  however,  something  like  permanency  was  es- 
tablished and  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  D.  Aves  took  charge 
of  the  affairs  of  the  church,  both  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral. Its  great  prosperity  dates  from  his  instal- 
lation in  office  and  during  the  years  of  his  incum- 
bency the  most  marvelous  growth  and  expansion 
were  shown.  Dr.  Aves  became  Bishop  of  Mexico 
and  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Dr.  Peter  Gray  Sears, 
who  has  shown  himself  to  be  a  worthy  successor. 

The  First  Baptist  Church  of  Houston  was  or- 
ganized April  10,  1841.  The  history  of  this  church 


114  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

is  interesting,  for  unlike  that  of  the  others,  its  in- 
ception was  the  result  of  the  untiring  efforts  of  two 
Christian  women,  Mrs.  C.  M.  Fuller  and  Mrs. 
Piety  L.  Hadley.  Soon  after  the  organization  of 
the  church  these  ladies  undertook  to  buy  ground  and 
erect  a  church  building.  They  had  no  money  and 
met  with  small  encouragement  even  from  their  fel- 
low church  members  and  members  of  their  own 
families.  Some  one,  as  a  joke,  gave  them  a  raw- 
boned  mule.  This  they  fattened  and  sold,  thus  se- 
curing a  nucleus  for  a  building  fund.  They  then 
gave  a  fair  where  home-made  useful  articles  were 
sold.  The  fair  and  the  mule  brought  them  in  $450. 
Then  they  gave  another  fair,  larger  than  the  other, 
and  secured  an  additional  $900.  With  this  money 
they  purchased  the  lots  on  the  corner  of  Texas  ave- 
nue and  Travis  street,  where  the  Milby  Hotel  now 
stands.  During  all  their  labors  these  ladies  had  the 
untiring  assistance  of  good  old  Brother  Pilgrim,  a 
pious  and  devout  Christian  gentleman. 

After  purchasing  the  lots,  the  ladies  wrote  to 
Rev.  William  Tryan  and  asked  him  to  come  and 
take  charge  of  the  church,  which  numbered  seven- 
teen members.  Dr.  Tryan  accepted  the  call,  came 
to  Houston,  and  it  was  through  his  effort  that  suf- 
ficient money  was  obtained  to  build  the  first  Bap- 
tist church,  which  stood  for  many  years  on  the 
southeast  corner  of  Texas  avenue  and  Travis  street. 

In  1883  the  property  was  sold  and  a  new  church 
was  erected  in  1883-84.  This  church  was  destroyed 
by  the  great  storm  in  1900  and  another  was  erected 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  115 

on  the  corner  of  Fannin  and  Walker  in  1903.    Rev. 
Dr.  J.  L.  Gross  is  the  present  pastor  of  this  church. 

There  were  Catholic  missionaries  here  in  the  very 
early  days  of  Houston's  existence,  but  no  effort 
was  made  to  establish  a  regularly  organized  church 
and  to  erect  a  building  until  1841,  when  a  French 
priest,  Rev.  Father  Querat,  purchased  the  quarter 
block  on  the  south  side  of  Franklin  avenue  and  Car- 
oline street.  Through  his  efforts  sufficient  money 
was  obtained  to  put  up  a  small  wooden  building 
and  to  build  another  back  of  it  for  a  school  house 
and  home  for  the  priest.  For  many  years  this  little 
church  was  used  and  not  until  1869  was  an  effort 
made  to  secure  larger  quarters.  In  1869  the  old 
church  property  was  sold  and  a  block  of  ground 
on  Texas  avenue  and  Crawford  street  was  pur- 
chased. In  1871  the  new  church  was  completed  and 
has  been  occupied  ever  since.  This  church  is  the 
handsome  brick  building  known  as  the  Church  of 
the  Annunciation,  and  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
churches  in  the  city.  Father  Hennessy  was  pastor 
at  the  time  and  has  been  such  all  these  years,  hon- 
ored and  respected  by  both  Catholics  and  Protest- 
ants. 

The  whole  block  is  used  by  the  church,  the  church 
edifice  occupying  the  northwest  side,  while  the  re- 
mainder is  given  over  to  elegant  school  and  priest 
houses. 

The  first  German  Lutheran  church  was  organized 
in  Houston  either  in  1851  or  1852.  This  tardy  organ- 
ization is  somewhat  difficult  to  understand,  since 


116  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

there  were  so  many  Germans  among  the  early  citi- 
zens of  Houston.  In  1853  the  church  purchased 
the  northwest  corner  of  the  block  on  Texas  avenue 
and  Milam  street  and  erected  a  very  large  and  im- 
posing frame  building  on  the  corner  lot.  Rev.  Mr. 
Braun  was  the  pastor,  and  he  also  conducted  a  fine 
German  and  English  school,  using  the  church 
building  for  that  purpose.  Among  the  members  of 
this  church  were  some  of  the  most  prominent  and 
useful  German  citizens  of  Houston. 

About  1875  a  second  Lutheran  church  was  built 
on  Louisiana  between  Prairie  and  Preston.  Some 
years  later  both  the  first  and  second  sites  were  sold 
and  new  churches  erected  elsewhere,  one  on  Texas 
avenue  and  Caroline  street  and  the  other  on  Wash- 
ington and  Young  avenue. 

From  the  earliest  days  of  Houston's  existence 
until  in  the  early  sixties  the  Hebrew  congregation 
in  this  city  was  kept  intact  through  the  personal 
exertions  of  "Father  Levy,"  as  the  venerable  rabbi 
was  called.  He  was  a  man  of  great  force  of  charac- 
ter and  was  honored  and  respected  by  everybody 
irrespective  of  creed  or  belief.  After  his  death  the 
office  was  filled  by  a  most  worthy  successor,  Rabbi 
Samuel  Raphael.  Rabbi  Raphael  had  a  strenuous 
time  during  the  continuance  of  the  war  between  the 
States,  but  through  his  fine  executive  ability  and 
enthusiastic  zeal  he  managed  to  keep  his  congrega- 
tion together  and  the  return  of  peace  found  it 
stronger  than  ever.  Rabbi  Raphael  was  a  profound 
scholar,  an  eloquent  speaker  and  a  man  of  great  per* 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  117 

sonal  magnetism.  No  man,  Jew  or  Gentile,  has  ever 
stood  higher  in  this  community  than  he. 

It  was  five  years  after  the  close  of  the  war  before 
an  effort  was  made  to  secure  a  suitable  house  of 
worship  by  this  congregation.  In  1869  a  building 
committee  was  appointed  and  in  1870,  the  corner- 
stone was  laid  for  the  first  Synagogue,  which  was 
located  on  Franklin  avenue.  Two  sons  of  Rabbi 
Raphael,  Benjamin  and  Mose,  were  prominent  in 
the  work  of  building  this  first  house  of  worship  for 
the  congregation  their  father  had  done  so  much  for 
spiritually. 

The  corner-stone  for  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  was  laid  October  17, 1907,  and  the  build- 
ing was  formally  opened  June  21,  1908.  The 
building  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  city. 

Though  it  is  said  the  first  Christians  in  Houston 
were  forced  to  hold  religious  services  under  the 
wide  spreading  branches  of  a  tree  that  grew  on 
Market  square,  their  descendants  are  better  provided 
for  and  today,  by  actual  count,  there  are  sixty-six 
houses  of  worship  in  this  city,  representing  all 
shades  of  faith  and  belief.  Houston  is  rapidly  be- 
coming a  city  of  churches.  Following  is  a  list  of 
the  churches  and  chapels: 

Methodist — Epworth  Methodist  Church;  Harris- 
burg  Methodist  Episcopal  Church;  Grace  Church, 
Houston  Heights;  M'Kee  St.  Methodist  Church; 
First  Methodist  Church ; Trinity  Methodist  Church; 
Bering  Memorial  Church;  Washington  Avenue 
Methodist  Church;  First  Methodist  Church  of 


118  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Houston  Heights;  McAshan  Methodist;  St.  Paul's 
Methodist  Church;  Tabernacle  Methodist  Church; 
Brunner  Avenue  Methodist  Church  and  Eber- 
nezer  German  Methodist  Church. 

Presbyterians — First  Presbyterian  Church ;  First 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Houston  Heights;  Hardy 
Street  Presbyterian  Church;  Woodland  Heights 
Presbyterian  Church;  Third  Presbyterian  Church; 
Oak  Lawn  Presbyterian  Church;  Second  Presby- 
terian Church;  Central  Presbyterian  Church;  West- 
minister Presbyterian  Church;  Park  Street  Chap- 
el; Market  Street  Chapel;  Hutchins  Street  Chapel; 
Hyde  Park  Chapel  and  B  lodge tt  Mission. 

Episcopal — Christ  Church;  St.  Mary's  Episco- 
pal Church;  Trinity  Church;  St.  John's  Church 
and  Clemens  Memorial  Church. 

Baptist — First  Baptist  Church;  Lee  Avenue 
Baptist  Church;  Magnolia  Baptist  Church;  Brun- 
ner Baptist  Church;  Calvary  Baptist  Church;  Ta- 
bernacle Baptist  Church;  Emanuel  Baptist  Church; 
Bishop  Street  Baptist  Church;  Tuam  Avenue  Bap- 
tist Church  and  Liberty  Avenue  Baptist  Church. 

Catholic — Church  of  the  Annunciation;  Sacred 
Heart  Church;  St.  Joseph's  Church;  Church  of 
the  Blessed  Sacrament  and  St.  Patrick's  Church. 

Christian  Church — Houston  Heights  Christian 
Church;  Central  Christian  Church;  Second  Christ- 
ian Church. 

Apostolic  Faith — Clark  Street  Mission;  Brun- 
ner Tabernacle. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  119 

Lutheran  —  Trinity  Evangelical  L  u  t  h  e  ran 
Church  and  First  German  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Church. 

Christian  Science — First  Church  of  Christ  Scien- 
tist 

Congregational — First  Congregational  Church. 

Evangelical  Association  —  The  Oak  Lawn 
Church. 

Church  of  Christ— First  Church  of  Christ. 

Spiritualist — The  Spiritualists  have  a  large  so- 
ciety in  Houston  and  hold  regular  meetings  every 
Sunday. 


CHAPTER  SEVEN. 

Some  Military  History — Houston  Companies  Dur- 
ing the  War— Sketch  of  the  "World  Beating" 
Light  Guard — Other  Military  Companies. 

Houston  following  so  close  on  the  heels  of  the 
Texas  revolution,  it  is  not  surprising  to  learn  that 
there  was  a  strong  martial  spirit  among  its  citizens 
and  that  they  should  be  willing  and  eager  to  em- 
bark in  any  military  movement  that  had  about  it 
active  or  prospective  active  service.  Governor 
Lubbock  mentions  in  his  Memoirs  that  there  were 
two  military  companies  in  Houston  in  the  very 
early  days.  One  of  these,  to  which  he  belonged, 
saw  service  against  the  Indians,  but  there  is  noth- 
ing to  show  that  the  other  had  active  service.  These 
companies  were  what  would  be  called  State  troops 
today.  In  the  early  fifties  there  were  two  mili- 
tary companies  here,  one  the  Washington  Light 
Guards  which  held  at  that  time  very  much  the  same 
place  that  the  Houston  Light  Guard  holds  today. 
The  other  was  the  Milam  Rifles  organized  after  the 
Washington  Light  Guards  had  been  in  service  for 
some  time,  and  organized  for  the  purpose  of  taking 
away  from  the  Washington  Light  Guards  the 
honors  they  had  won,  which  were  principally  the 
smiles  and  admiration  of  the  ladies.  The  two  com- 
panies were  about  socially  equal  and  there  was  in- 
tense rivalry  between  them,  which  occasionally  led 
to  personal  collisions  between  the  individual  mem- 
bers. On  one  occasion,  during  a  target  contest  be- 
tween the  two  companies  on  San  Jacinto  Day,  there 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  121 

came  near  being  something  of  a  general  riot  because 
a  lieutenant  of  one  company  and  a  private  of  the 
other  went  to  war  on  their  own  account  over  a  dis- 
puted score. 

When  the  war  broke  out,  instead  of  entering  the 
Confederate  army  as  organizations,  these  two  com- 
panies disbanded  and  the  individual  members  join- 
ed new  companies  that  were  organized.  The  great 
bulk  of  the  members  of  the  Washington  Light 
Guards  joined  the  Bayou  City  Guards  which  after- 
wards earned  such  glory  in  the  Army  of  Northern 
Virginia  under  Lee,  known  officially  as  Company 
A,  5th  Texas  Regiment,  Hood's  Brigade.  In  fact 
so  many  of  the  old  company  joined  the  Bayou 
City  Guards  that  it  was  practically  the  old  com- 
pany itself.  Other  members  of  both  companies 
joined  a  cavalry  company  raised  by  the  late  Major 
Ike  Stafford  for  service  on  the  Rio  Grande,  which 
was  the  very  first  company  to  leave  for  the  front 
at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war.  The  Captain  of 
the  Washington  Light  Guards,  Captain  Edwards, 
raised  still  another  company  of  infantry,  while 
Captain  Ed  Riodan  took  some  of  the  members  of 
the  Milam  Rifles  and  with  them  as  a  nucleus  form- 
ed a  splendid  company  of  infantry.  It  is  doubtful 
if  there  was  a  single  member  of  either  of  the  two 
original  companies  who  did  not  volunteer  in  some 
of  the  companies  that  left  Houston  in  1861. 

At  that  time  there  was  a  boys'  military  company 
here,  something  on  the  order  of  the  High  School 
Cadets  of  today.  This  company  was  commanded 


122  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

by  Captain  W.  M.  Stafford,  now  of  Galveston. 
When  the  war  broke  out  Captain  Stafford  and 
most  of  the  older  boys  entered  the  Confederate 
army.  Captain  Stafford  was  made  a  lieutenant 
in  an  artillery  company  and  rose  soon  after  to  the 
rank  of  Captain,  he  being,  perhaps,  the  youngest 
captain  in  command  of  a  battery  in  the  Confeder- 
ate service. 

Another  company  that  distinguished  itself  dur- 
ing the  war  was  the  Houston  Turners,  composed 
almost,  if  not  entirely,  of  members  of  the  Turn- 
verein  association.  This  company  was  organized 
and  commanded  by  Captain  E.  B.  H.  Schneider 
and  saw  much  active  service,  giving  a  good  account 
of  itself  on  several  bloody  fields. 

The  Confederate  Grays  was  a  fine  infantry  com- 
pany from  Houston  that  saw  much  active  service, 
first  at  Shiloh  under  Johnston  and  afterwards  in  the 
campaign  in  Mississippi  and  at  Vicksburg.  After 
the  capture  of  Vicksburg  they  were  exchanged  and 
transferred  to  this  side  of  the  river. 

When  the  war  began  it  was  looked  on  as  a  joke 
and  there  was  much  joking  at  the  enthusiastic 
eagerness  of  the  young  men  to  get  to  the  front. 
The  Bayou  City  Guards  was  christened  "The 
kid  glove  gentry,"  and  when  the  company  was 
ordered  to  Camp  Van  Dorn,  below  Harrisburg, 
for  the  purpose  of  being  mustered  into  the  service, 
preparatory  to  going  to  Virginia,  Mr.  T.  W. 
House,  Sr.,  sent  them  a  big  box  of  white  kid  gloves. 
The  members  put  them  on  their  bayonets  and 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  123 

marched  up  Main  street  with  them  thus  displayed. 
Afterwards  when  the  accomplishments  of  this  com- 
pany in  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia  began  to 
be  known  and  bragged  about,  Mr.  House  was  very 
proud  of  the  "Kid  glove  gentry,"  and  told  fre- 
quently of  how  he  had  fitted  them  out  for  war  with 
kid  gloves. 

Having  had  four  years  of  actual  warfare  there 
was  not  much  martial  spirit  left  in  the  young  men 
who  returned  home  after  the  surrender,  consequently 
there  was  no  talk  of  organizing  a  company  of  play 
soldiers  and  the  average  returned  veteran  would 
shy  at  the  sight  of  a  sword  or  musket.  However, 
there  was  a  new  crop  of  young  men  coming  to  the 
front  and  in  1878  some  of  these  got  together  and 
organized  the  Houston  Light  Guard,  a  military 
company  destined  to  shed  as  much  honor  and  fame 
on  Houston  during  peace  times  as  the  others  had 
done  during  war.  The  Houston  Light  Guard  was 
organized  April  21,  1878.  Captain  Fairfax  Gray, 
a  member  of  the  United  States  Navy  before  the 
war  and  a  distinguished  officer  in  the  Confederate 
army,  was  the  first  Captain  of  the  company.  For 
some  reason  the  members  soon  lost  interest  and  the 
organization  practically  ceased  to  exist.  There  were 
no  meetings  held  from  the  first  one  until  late  in  the 
fall  of  the  same  year,  when  some  of  the  most  zeal- 
ous of  the  young  men  got  together  and  determined 
to  reorganize  the  company.  This  they  did,  elect- 
ing J.  R.  Coffin  captain.  From  that  meeting  dates 
the  success  of  the  Light  Guard.  Captain  Coffin 


124  A  THUMB-XAIL  HISTORY  OF 

began  regular  drills  and  soon  had  the  company  in 
such  form  as  to  make  a  creditable  showing  as  sol- 
diers. The  boys  purchased  uniforms,  which  were 
Confederate  gray,  and  appeared  in  them  for  the 
first  time  in  the  great  carnival  of  King  Comus  in 
February,  1874. 

Four  months  later  when  the  May  Volksf est  was 
held  the  Light  Guard  entered  their  first  competi- 
tive drill,  meeting  four  companies  from  outside 
points.  The  entering  was  all  they  did  for  they  got 
no  prize,  but  did  get  experience. 

The  next  year  under  Captain  Joe  Rice  they  won 
their  first  prize  at  the  Austin  drill,  it  being  a  sword 
valued  at  $500. 

About  that  time  there  seems  to  have  been  a  gen- 
eral revival  of  the  martial  spirit  throughout  the 
country  and  each  city  strove  to  secure  a  crack  mili- 
tary company.  All  over  the  South  and  in  many 
of  the  Northern  and  Western  cities  military  com- 
panies were  formed.  While  there  was  lots  of  pleas- 
ure and  sport  in  indulging  in  this  fad  it  was  very 
expensive,  since  the  heavy  expense  fell  on  the  indi- 
vidual members.  Each  company  paid  its  own 
traveling  expenses,  for  its  uniforms  and  for  every 
thing  except  its  guns  which  were  furnished  by  the 
State  government.  Interstate  drills  became  all  the 
rage  and  in  1881  the  Houston  Light  Guard  entered 
its  first  one  at  Xew  Orleans  where  it  competed 
against  some  of  the  crack  companies  of  the  South. 
The  Light  Guard  took  iYuirtk  prize,  $500. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  125 

Their  next  appearance  was  in  1882  at  the  Inter- 
state drill  that  was  held  at  Nashville,  Term.  There 
were  five  companies  competing  and  the  Light 
Guard  took  fourth  prize  again.  However,  they 
had  the  satisfaction  of  beating  the  Lawrence  Rifles, 
a  company  that  had  come  all  the  way  from  Boston, 
Mass.  Beating  that  Boston  company  gave  them 
the  only  bit  of  satisfaction  they  had. 

However,  the  Light  Guard  were  as  strong  in  de- 
feat as  they  afterwards  proved  themselves  to  be  in 
the  hour  of  victory.  Captain  Thomas  Scurry  was 
their  commander  and  he  determined  to  make  them 
world-beaters,  and  did  so  before  he  completed  his 
work.  In  the  face  of  two  or  more  failures  they  be- 
came more  determined  than  ever  and  they  were  loy- 
ally backed  by  the  business  men  of  Houston. 

In  1884  the  business  men  raised  a  large  sum  of 
money  to  be  used  as  prizes  and  to  pay  other  ex- 
penses and  issued  invitations  to  all  the  military  com- 
panies in  the  United  States  to  come  to  Houston 
for  a  great  interstate  drill.  A  number  of  crack  com- 
panies promptly  accepted  the  invitation.  The  War 
Department  at  Washington  appointed  three  army 
officers  to  attend  the  drill,  act  as  judges  and  make 
a  report  of  results  to  the  Department.  Mr.  H. 
Baldwin  Rice  was  appointed  manager  of  the  drill, 
which  took  place  at  the  Fair  Grounds,  where  now 
stands  the  "Fair  Grounds  Addition."  The  drill 
lasted  a  week.  The  first  prize  was  $5,000.  From 
that  sum  the  prizes  were  reduced  so  that  the  last 
prize  was  only  about  one-quarter  of  that  amount. 


126  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

There  was  a  State  as  well  as  an  Interstate  drill  held 
at  the  same  time.  In  the  Interstate  drill  were  such 
companies  as  the  Treadway  Rifles  of  St.  Louis ;  the 
Columbus  Guards  of  Columbus,  Ga.;  the  Mont- 
gomery Greys  of  Montgomery,  Ala. ;  the  Washing- 
ton Guards  of  Galveston,  Texas,  and  the  Houston 
Light  Guard.  The  Houston  Light  Guard  put  up 
one  of  the  most  perfect  drills  that  had  ever  been  wit- 
nessed. They  took  first  prize  easily  as  the  following 
report  of  the  army  officers  who  were  judges,  shows: 
Omitting  figures  grading  the  various  parts  of  the 
drill  the  totals  were  as  follows : 

Houston  Light  Guard,  2.66;  Treadway  Rifles, 
2.55 ;  Columbus  Guards,  2.35 ;  Mobile  Rifles,  2.29 ; 
Montgomery  Greys,  2.28;  Washington  Guards, 
1.95.  A  perfect  drill  would  have  given  3.00,  the 
maximum  score. 

To  show  how  perfectly  the  Light  Guard  drilled, 
the  following  extract  from  the  report  of  the  judges 
is  given: 

"Houston  Light  Guard — It  is  observed  that  the 
inspection  was  nearly  perfect.  The  appearance  of 
the  men  in  their  dress,  arms  and  accoutrements  and 
their  neatness,  exceeded  anything  we  have  seen  any- 
where— each  man  like  a  color  man  at  the  United 
States  Military  Academy  at  West  Point.  Captain 
Scurry  had  not  proceeded  far  in  the  programme 
when,  while  wheeling  his  company  from  column  of 
twos,  improperly,  the  company  was  placed  in  a  posi- 
tion from  which  it  was  almost  impossible  to  extri- 
cate it,  except  as  done,  exhibiting  great  presence  of 
mind  on  the  captain's  part. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  127 

"Captain  Scurry's  appreciation  of  the  pro- 
gramme and  its  requirements  was  superior  to  that 
of  the  other  commanders. 

"The  ground  was  laid  out  with  the  view  to  testing 
the  length  and  cadence  of  the  step  in  quick  and 
double  time.  A  company  marching  as  contem- 
plated in  the  method  applied  would  take  the  fol- 
lowing number  of  steps  in  quick  and  double  time, 
and  in  the  time  specified.  In  quick  time,  284  steps 
in  2  minutes  and  35  seconds;  in  double  time,  284 
steps  in  one  minute  and  26  seconds.  The  Houston 
Light  Guard  made  the  following  record :  In  quick 
time,  288  steps  in  2  minutes  and  85  seconds;  in 
double  time,  1  minute  and  27.  Aside  from  all  prac- 
tice in  this  particular,  the  result  was  almost  phe- 
nomenal. Captain  Scurry  was  the  only  one  who 
marched  upon  the  flag  with  guide  to  the  left  as  di- 
rected by  the  judges." 

The  Houston  Light  Guard  generously  offered  to 
turn  over  the  $5,000  first  prize  to  the  visiting  com- 
panies to  help  pay  their  expenses,  but  the  offer  was 
refused  with  thanks,  of  course. 

During  1885  the  Houston  Light  Guard,  under 
the  able  leadership  of  Captain  Scurry,  won  three 
first  prizes  in  interstate  contests.  These  footed  up 
$12,000.  The  first  was  at  Mobile,  Alabama,  in  May 
and  the  second  a  few  days  later  in  New  Orleans. 
The  third  was  in  Philadelphia  in  July  at  the  great 
drill  that  was  held  in  Fairmount  Park.  In  this  drill 
and  encampment  nearly  every  section  of  the  coun- 
try was  represented,  there  being  seventy-five  com- 


128  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

panics  there,  about  one-half  of  them  entering  the 
interstate  contest.  The  Houston  Light  Guard  was 
an  easy  winner,  the  judges  stating  that  there  was 
enough  room  between  their  score  and  that  of  their 
nearest  competitor  to  place  three  or  four  companies. 

From  Philadelphia  the  company  went  to  New 
York,  where  they  were  royally  entertained  by  the 
famous  New  York  regiments.  It  is  only  an  act  of 
justice  to  give  here  the  names  of  the  officers  and 
men  who  made  the  Houston  Light  Guard  "World 
Beaters."  They  were: 

Captain,  Thos.  Scurry;  1st  Lieutenant,  F.  A. 
Reichardt;  2nd  Lieutenant,  T.  H.  Franklin;  3rd 
Lieutenant,  Spencer  Hutchins;  Quartermaster,  W. 
A.  Childress;  Surgeon,  Dr.  S.  O.  Young;  1st  Ser- 
geant, George  L,  Price;  2nd  Sergeant,  R.  A. 
Scurry;  1st  Corporal,  H.  D.  Taylor;  2nd  Corporal, 
W.  K.  Mendenhall;  3rd  Corporal,  George  N.  Tor- 
rey. 

Privates — Byers,  Barnett,  Bates,  Bull,  Byres, 
Cook,  Dealy,  Foss,  Golihart,  Hodgson,  Hutchins, 
Heyer,  Reynaud,  Swanson,  Johnson,  Journey,  Wil- 
son, R.  Kattman,  E.  Kattman,  Lewis,  Mahoney, 
Mitchell,  McKeever,  Powell,  Randolph,  Steel,  Saw- 
yer, Sharpe,  Tyler,  Taft,  Taylor,  Torrey,  Wisby. 
Perpetual  drummer,  John  Sessums  (colored). 

The  next  great  victory  of  the  Light  Guard  was 
at  Galveston  in  1886,  where  they  took  the  first  prize, 
a  purse  of  $4,500,  in  competition  with  such  com- 
panies as  the  Montgomery  True  Blues,  San  An- 
tonio Rifles,  Branch  Guards  of  St.  Louis,  Company 


THE  BENDER  HOTEL 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  129 

F,  Louisville  Legion  and  Belknap  Rifles  of  San 
Antonio.  That  drill  of  the  Light  Guard  was  the 
most  perfect  ever  witnessed  in  the  United  States 
and  excited  widespread  wonder  and  admiration 
among  military  men  and  the  general  public. 

The  Light  Guard  went  to  Austin  in  1888  and 
took  first  prize,  $5,000,  in  competition  with  some  of 
the  crack  companies  of  the  United  States.  The 
next  year  Galveston  had  another  great  interstate 
drill  and  in  order  to  not  bluff  off  other  companies 
the  Galveston  people  barred  the  Houston  Light 
Guard,  thus  paying  them  the  highest  compliment 
they  ever  received.  They  gave  the  Light  Guard 
a  special  prize  of  $500  for  an  exhibition  drill. 

The  Houston  Light  Guard  showed  that  they 
were  not  merely  fancy  soldiers  when  the  war  with 
Spain  began.  They  volunteered  promptly  and  un- 
der command  of  Captain  George  McCormick,  went 
to  the  front.  They  saw  service  in  Florida  and  Cuba. 
When  peace  negotiations  began,  Captain  McCor- 
mick returned  home  and  R.  A.  Scurry  became  cap- 
tain of  the  company,  returning  home  with  it  soon 
after.  The  Light  Guard  owns  its  armory,  the  hand- 
somest in  the  State.  It  was  paid  for  partly  with 
money  won  as  prizes  and  partly  by  issuing  bonds. 
The  property,  being  in  the  business  section  of  the 
city,  has  become  extremely  valuable  and  could  be 
disposed  of  today  at  many  times  its  cost  to  the  com- 
pany. 

The  following  are  the  captains  who  have  com- 
manded the  Houston  Light  Guard  from  its  organi- 


130  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

zation  to  the  present  day:  Fairfax  Gray,  John 
Coffin,  Joe  S.  Rice,  George  Price,  James  S.  Ba- 
ker, Jr.,  Thomas  Scurry,  F.  A.  Reichardt,  George 
McCormick,  R.  A.  Scurry,  C.  Hutchinson,  Milby 
Porter  and  Dallas  J.  Mathews,  the  present  able  cap- 
tain. 

Troop  A  has  always  been  the  crack  troop  of 
cavalry  of  the  Texas  National  Guards.  This  is  a 
Houston  company  and  during  the  war  with  Spain 
was  part  of  the  First  Texas  Cavalry,  United  States 
Volunteers. 

The  Jeff  Miller  Rifles,  which  belonged  to  the 
Second  Infantry  regiment,  was  also  a  noted  com- 
pany, that  saw  service  during  the  skirmish  with 
Spain. 


CHAPTER  EIGHT. 

Houston's  First  Sawmill — The  First  Cotton  Com- 
press— Early  Foundries — Ice  Making — Meat 
Packeries — The  Big  Establishments  of  Today. 

While  there  was  quite  a  large  sawmill  and  grist- 
mill, blacksmith  shop  and  lumber  yard  at  Harris- 
burg,  established  there  by  Mr.  Robert  Wilson,  the 
father  of  the  late  Mr.  Jas.  T.  D.  Wilson,  who  came 
to  Texas  in  1828,  it  would  not  be  exactly  fair  to 
claim  these  as  the  first  Houston  manufacturing  en- 
terprises. The  first,  strictly  Houston  concern  in 
the  manufacturing  line,  if  a  sawmill  falls  under 
that  head,  was  the  old  sawmill  that  stood  just  about 
where  the  Milam  street  bridge  crosses  Buffalo 
Bayou.  That  mill  was  built  in  the  early  forties. 

Mr.  Kl im  Stockbridge  built  a  cornmeal  mill  at 
the  foot  of  Texas  avenue  in  1844.  The  Morning 
Star  was  greatly  pleased  with  this  evidence  of  prog- 
ress and  gave  quite  a  glowing  account  of  the  mo- 
tive power  which  was  three  oxen  on  a  treadmill. 

During  the  same  year  Mr.  N.  T.  Davis  erected 
the  first  compress  in  Houston.  The  Morning  Star 
speaking  of  this  compress  in  its  issue  of  March  11, 
1844,  says:  "A  few  days  ago  we  visited  the  cotton 
compress  lately  erected  in  this  city  by  Mr.  N.  T. 
Davis,  and  were  agreeably  surprised  to  find  that 
the  machine  used  for  compressing  cotton  bales  ad- 
mirably answers  the  purposes  for  which  it  was  con- 
structed. With  the  aid  of  only  two  hands,  Mr. 
Davis  can  compress  a  bale  of  500  pounds  into  a 


132  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

space  only  22  inches  square  in  15  minutes.  The  fa- 
cility with  which  the  work  is  done  is  truly  surpris- 
ing." Since  the  best  modern  compress  can  turn 
out  a  500-pound  bale  compressed  into  a  space  of 
22  cubic  feet,  it  is  evident  that  the  editor  of  the  Star 
got  his  notes  mixed  when  he  wrote  of  "22  square 
inches." 

In  1845  there  was  a  rope-walk  on  the  block  now 
owned  by  the  Houston  Turnverein.  It  was  used 
for  manufacturing  rope  until  about  1853  or  54.  The 
first  iron  foundry  was  established  in  Houston  in 
1851  by  Mr.  Alex  McGowan  on  the  north  side  of 
Buffalo  Bayou  and  on  the  banks  of  White  Oak 
Bayou.  For  the  first  year  or  two  its  principal  work 
was  in  making  kettles  for  the  sugar  plantations  near 
here  and  in  constructing  light  machinery  for  farm 
and  plantation  use.  However,  after  the  Houston 
and  Texas  Central  road  began  operation  the  work 
of  the  foundry  increased  and  it  was  kept  busy  doing 
repair  work  for  the  road.  For  several  years  this 
foundry  was  the  largest  and  best  in  Texas  and  did 
an  immense  amount  of  all  kinds  of  foundry  work. 
Even  during  the  war  it  was  enabled  to  continue  a 
regular  foundry  business,  something  that  others 
were  not  able  or  willing  to  do.  About  1858  or  59, 
one  of  the  best  and  most  expert  f  oundrymen  in  the 
business  came  here  from  the  North.  This  was  Mr. 
Cushman,  the  owner  and  manager  of  Cushman's 
Foundry,  which  was  located  on  the  south  side  of 
the  west  end  of  Preston  avenue  bridge.  Mr.  Cush- 
man put  up  extensive  buildings  and  established  suit- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          133 

able  machinery  for  doing  all  kinds  of  pattern-mak- 
ing and  foundry  work.  About  the  time  he  got 
everything  going  smoothly,  the  war  came  on  and  as 
his  workmen  volunteered  almost  to  a  man,  in  the 
Confederate  army,  he  was  left  with  an  expensive 
plant  on  his  hands  and  no  labor  to  use  it.  He  strug- 
gled along  in  a  hap-hazzard  way  for  awhile  and  then 
converted  his  plant  into  an  arsenal  and  began  man- 
ufacturing cannon,  shells  and  such  things  for  the 
Confederate  government.  The  commander  of  this 
department  detailed  skilled  mechanics  to  do  the 
work  and  before  long  Cushman's  Foundry  became 
one  of  the  most  important  concerns  in  the  State. 
After  the  war  Mr.  Cushman  restored  his  plant  to 
its  original  use  and  did  a  large  foundry  business 
for  many  years,  finally  disposing  of  the  plant. 

Perhaps  the  most  successful  manufacturing  en- 
terprise from  an  insignificant  beginning  is  the  Dick- 
son  Car  Wheel  Works.  When  Mr.  Dickson  first 
announced  that  he  was  going  to  manufacture  car 
wheels  here  he  was  laughed  at  and  certain  defeat 
was  predicted.  He  persisted,  however,  and  today 
the  Dickson  Car  Wheel  Works  are  among  the 
largest  and  most  profitable  establishments  of  that 
character  in  the  South.  There  is  a  steady  and  con- 
stantly growing  demand  for  their  output. 

The  first  artificial  ice  made  in  Houston  was  at  a 
plant  established  by  Dr.  Pearl,  who  was  associated 
with  two  young  Englishmen.  These  gentlemen 
established  an  ice-making  plant  and  also  a  meat 
packery  on  the  Bayou  below  the  city  in  1869.  Lack 


134  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

of  experience,  being  rather  in  advance  of  the  times 
and  other  causes  combined  to  frustrate  their  designs 
and  after  a  year  or  two  of  hopeless  struggle  the 
plant  proved  a  failure  and  went  out  of  business  in 
1873. 

During  1875,  Mr.  E.  W.  Taylor  and  one  or  two 
associates  bought  some  of  the  abandoned  machin- 
ery of  the  Pearl  plant  and  established  a  regular 
packery.  The  next  year  Mr.  Geiselman  estab- 
lished another  packery,  and  both  of  them  did  a  good 
business  for  some  years.  The  transportation  facili- 
ties were  unsatisfactory  and  that  limited  the  field 
of  operation  of  the  two  plants  to  such  an  extent 
that  both  voluntarily  went  out  of  business.  Not 
until  1894  did  Houston  come  to  the  front  as  a  pack- 
ing house  center.  That  year  the  Houston  Packing 
Company's  plant  was  established  here.  This  is  the 
largest  independent  packing  house  in  the  United 
States  and  does  a  business  of  about  $4,000,000  an- 
nually. 

Both  the  Swift  and  Armour  companies  main- 
tain branches  here  and  own  their  own  buildings. 

Every  large  packing  house  in  the  United  States 
has  either  a  branch  office  or  agency  in  Houston, 
being  induced  to  come  here  by  Houston's  admira- 
ble facilities  for  receiving  and  distributing  their 
products. 

The  packing  house  part  of  the  Pearl  plant  hav- 
ing been,  in  a  measure,  resurrected  through  the  ef- 
forts of  Mr.  Taylor  and  his  associates,  one  would 
have  supposed  that  attention  would  have  been  given 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          135 

to  ice-making  also.  That  was  not  true,  however,  for 
it  was  not  until  1880  that  an  ice  manufacturing 
plant  was  established.  That  was  the  Central  Ice 
Company,  organized  by  Mr.  Hugh  Hamilton.  The 
first  machinery  was  a  dilapidated  and  abandoned 
ice  machine.  This  is  today  one  of  the  largest  and 
most  successful  plants  in  the  State.  The  American 
Brewing  Company  is  another  large  and  flourishing 
concern.  It  was  chartered  in  1894  and  its  principal 
owner  is  Mr.  A.  Busch  of  St.  Louis. 

Today  Houston  has  a  number  of  large  ice-mak- 
ing plants,  the  chief  being  the  Houston  Packing 
Company,  the  Henke  Artesian  Ice  and  Refriger- 
ating Company,  the  Crystal  Ice  and  Fuel  Company 
and  the  Irvin  Ice  Factory. 

Shortly  after  the  close  of  the  war  one  or  two  at- 
tempts were  made  to  establish  cotton  mills  here. 
Not  until  1872  was  the  movement  successful.  In 
that  year  the  City  Cotton  Mills  were  erected  in 
the  Second  ward.  Mr.  B.  A.  Shepherd  was  the 
principal  stockholder,  owning  slightly  more  than 
half  of  the  stock.  The  mill  was  just  beginning  to 
do  a  good  business,  when,  in  August,  1875,  it  was 
destroyed  by  fire.  The  loss  was  complete,  being 
$200,000,  with  no  insurance. 

A  few  years  later  Mr.  E.  H.  Gushing  and  Mr. 
James  F.  Dumble  started  another  cotton  mill  out 
at  Eureka,  five  miles  from  Houston  on  the  Hous- 
ton &  Texas  Central  railroad,  but  after  a  struggling 
existence  of  a  year  or  two,  they  were  forced  to 
abandon  the  undertaking. 


136  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

From  that  time  until  1903  no  further  attempt 
was  made  to  build  cotton  or  textile  mills  here.  How- 
ever, in  1903,  the  Oriental  Textile  Mills  were  estab- 
lished, and  this  institution  now  ranks  among  the 
largest  and  most  successful  textile  mills  in  the 
United  States. 

At  the  close  of  the  war  there  were  several  small 
wagon  and  vehicle  manufacturing  concerns  estab- 
lished here,  and  there  were  also  one  or  two  planing 
mills  and  sash  factories.  The  planing  mills  and 
sash  factories  of  Bering  &  Cortes  and  of  Henry 
House  were  the  principal  ones,  and  both  did  an  im- 
mense business.  As  remarked,  the  manufacture  of 
wagons,  while  one  of  the  earliest  of  Houston's 
manufacturing  enterprises,  was  never  carried  on 
extensively  until  a  year  or  two  ago,  when  in  1910, 
the  Eller  Wagon  Works  were  established  here. 
This  concern  does  an  immense  business  and  manu- 
factures heavy  trucks,  oil-tank  wagons  and  such 
things,  which  are  distributed  over  the  State. 

Aside  from  having  several  skillful  cabinet  makers 
who  did  fine  work,  but  only  in  a  small  way,  no  at- 
tention was  paid  to  the  manufacture  of  furniture 
on  a  large  scale  until  in  1904,  when  the  Myers- 
Spalti  Company  established  their  plant  here.  This 
is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  prosperous  plants  of 
its  kind  in  the  country.  The  firm  makes  any  and 
everything  in  the  way  of  furniture,  and  employ 
only  the  best  and  most  expert  workmen.  They 
have  branch  offices  in  all  the  leading  markets,  and 
the  amount  of  their  business  is  immense. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  137 

A  fact  not  generally  known  is  that  Houston  has 
the  only  piano  and  organ  manufacturing  plant  in 
the  South.  It  was  established  here  in  1909  and  is 
now  doing  a  good  and  lucrative  business,  the  work 
turned  out  by  them  being  of  the  highest  order  of 
excellence. 

Houston's  standing  and  importance  as  a  manu- 
facturing point  are  well  shown  by  the  United  States 
Census  Report.  Following  are  the  figures  for 
Houston,  for  1909,  the  year  when  the  figures  were 
taken  by  the  government: 

Number  of  establishments,  249 ;  capital  invested, 
$16,594,000;  cost  of  material  used,  $14,321,000; 
salaries  and  wages,  $4,254,000;  miscellaneous  ex- 
penses, $1,942,000;  value  of  products,  $23,016,000; 
value  added  by  manufacture,  $8,695,000;  number 
of  salaried  officers  and  clerks,  725;  average  num- 
ber of  wage  earners,  5338;  total  number  of  steam 
laundries,  '9;  capital  invested  in  laundries,  $270,- 
000;  cost  of  material  used,  $74,000;  salaries  and 
wages,  $256,000;  miscellaneous  expenses,  $129,000; 
value  of  products,  $500,000;  number  of  salaried 
officers  and  clerks,  34;  average  number  of  wage 
earners,  422. 

When  the  government  figures  were  taken  in 
1909  comparison  was  made  with  those  of  1904  to 
show  percentage  of  increase  and  decrease.  The 
comparisons  for  Houston  are  as  follows: 

Increase  in  cost  of  material  used,  88  per  cent ;  in- 
crease in  capital  invested,  87  per  cent;  increase  in 
number  of  salaried  officers  and  clerks,  75  per  cent ; 


138  A  THUMB-]\TAIL  HISTORY  OF 

increase  in  miscellaneous  expenses,  72  per  cent;  in- 
crease in  value  of  products,  70  per  cent;  increase 
in  value  added  by  manufacture,  46  per  cent;  in- 
crease in  salaries  and  wages,  24  per  cent;  increase 
in  number  of  establishments,  19  per  cent;  increase 
in  average  number  of  wage  earners  employed  dur- 
ing the  year,  6  per  cent. 

In  many  waj^s  Houston  is  an  ideal  point  for  man- 
ufacturing enterprises.  An  inexhaustible  supply 
of  the  purest  artesian  water  can  be  obtained  any- 
where in  or  for  miles  around  the  city,  while  the 
question  of  fuel  is  almost  as  easily  solved,  since 
Houston  is  just  on  the  edge  of  the  great  oil  field 
and  is  connected  by  pipe  lines  with  all  the  fields  as 
far  north  as  Oklahoma.  Water  can  be  had  at  the 
small  cost  of  sinking  a  well,  while  there  is  an  abund- 
ance of  the  best  and  cheapest  fuel.  When  to  these 
advantages  is  added  the  superb  transportation  fa- 
cilities possessed  by  Houston,  it  is  surprising  that 
there  are  not  a  hundred-fold  more  great  manufac- 
turing enterprises  here  than  there  are. 


CHAPTER  NINE. 

Early  Literary  Efforts — Splendid  Work  Done  by 
the  Ladies — Sketch  of  the  Houston  Lyceum 
and  the  Carnegie  Library — Labor  Organizations 
and  Their  Work. 

Perhaps  no  city  in  the  United  States  had  among 
its  early  settlers  so  many  prominent  and  distin- 
guished men  as  had  Houston.  As  a  rule,  new  cities 
as  well  as  new  countries  are  settled  by  pioneers  who 
are  distinguished  more  for  their  brawn  and  muscle 
than  for  their  culture  and  intelligence.  Hard 
work,  requiring  strength  and  endurance  counts  for 
more  in  a  new  country  than  courtly  manners  and 
scientific  ability.  These  latter  belong  rather  to  the 
children  of  pioneers  than  to  the  pioneers  them- 
selves. Houston  affords  a  striking  exception  to 
this  rule,  for  among  her  early  settlers  were  some  of 
the  greatest,  most  prominent  and  intellectual  men 
in  America.  This  was  as  true  of  the  foreign  ele- 
ment as  of  the  native-born  Americans;  in  fact  the 
latter,  as  a  whole,  contrasted  rather  unfavorably 
with  the  distinguished  Germans  who  were  among 
the  first  settlers.  While  the  Americans  excelled, 
naturally,  in  statecraft  and  in  the  legal  and  med- 
ical professions,  being  far  more  accustomed  to  the 
needs,  requirements  and  customs  of  this  country  than 
their  foreign  friends  and  associates,  yet  the  latter 
contributed  more  largely  to  the  arts,  sciences  and 
general  literature  and  thus,  between  the  two,  Hous- 


140  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

ton  was  placed  on  a  most  advantageous  plane  at  the 
very  beginning. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  learned  profes- 
sions, the  arts  or  anything  that  related  to  literature 
occupied  the  stage  to  the  exclusion  of  everything 
else,  for  that  was  far  from  true.  There  were  lots 
of  typical  pioneers,  rough  men,  but  all  men;  and 
in  addition  to  these  there  were  typical  "bad  men" 
and  toughs.  These  latter  were  in  a  woeful  minority 
and  in  the  mass  of  citizens,  were  too  few  and  insig- 
nificant to  stamp  their  individuality  on  the  com- 
munity. 

While  Houston  and  Galveston  have  always  been 
strong  business  rivals  and  have  never  failed  to  give 
each  other  commercial  black  eyes  when  opportunity 
presented,  still  the  people  of  both  cities  have  always 
been  the  best  of  friends  in  a  social  way  and  have 
done  much  good  for  each  other.  The  first  literary 
society,  lyceum  or  what  ever  it  was  called,  in  Texas 
was  located  in  Galveston  in  the  early  forties.  While 
nominally  a  Galveston  institution  this  society  was 
loyally  supported  by  Houstonians  who  contributed 
regularly  to  the  monthly  entertainments  that  were 
given. 

In  1848  the  Houston  Lyceum  was  chartered. 
Almost  before  it  was  born  it  went  to  sleep  and  did 
not  wake  until  1854.  That  year  it  was  revived  and 
showed  considerable  animation  for  awhile  but  soon 
lapsed  into  inocuous  desuetude.  At  that  time  382 
volumes  had  been  gotten  together  and  a  bookcase 
had  been  purchased. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  141 

For  a  short  time  considerable  interest  was  taken 
in  the  affairs  of  the  Lyceum  by  the  gentlemen  hav- 
ing its  management  in  hand,  but  these  soon  grew 
weary  and  the  Lyceum  was  allowed  to  die  again. 
During  the  war  nothing  was,  or  could  be,  done,  but 
at  the  close  of  the  war  an  attempt  was  made  to  re- 
vive interest  in  it,  but  with  only  partial  success. 
Spasmodic  attempts  were  made  to  establish  the 
Lyceum  firmly  on  its  feet,  but  it  was  not  until  1895 
that  such  an  attempt  was  crowned  with  success. 
In  that  year  Mrs.  Looscan,  president  of  the  La- 
dies Reading  Club,  brought  that  Club  to  the  assist- 
ance of  the  Lyceum.  Every  member  of  the  Club 
became  a  member  of  the  Lyceum  and  the  books 
were  removed  to  a  room  in  the  Mason  building. 
Through  the  efforts  of  these  ladies  the  city  offi- 
cials were  induced  to  give  official  recognition  to 
the  Lyceum  in  1899  and  to  make  an  appropria- 
tion of  $200  monthly  for  its  support.  The  next 
year  Mr.  Carnegie  gave  $50,000  for  a  building 
fund,  providing  the  city  would  donate  a  suitable 
building  site.  The  conditions  were  complied  with 
and  the  present  library  building  was  formally 
opened  to  the  public  in  March,  1904.  In  1900  the 
Houston  Lyceum  and  Carnegie  Association  was 
chartered  and  took  the  place  of  the  old  Houston 
Lyceum.  About  the  same  time  Mr.  N.  S.  Mel- 
drum  endowed  the  children's  department  with 
$6,000  as  a  memorial  to  Norma  Meldrum. 

Miss  Julia  Ideson,  the  librarian,  stated  in  her  re- 
port for  1904  that  there  had  been  59,751  books  with- 


142  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

drawn  from  the  library  for  home  use.  At  that 
time  there  were  between  eight  and  nine  thousand 
volumes  in  the  library.  In  her  report  for  the  mu- 
nicipal year  ending  February  29, 1912,  Miss  Ideson 
says:  "The  circulation  from  the  main  library 
amounted  to  102,580  volumes,  an  increase  of  more 
than  8,000  volumes  over  the  circulation  of  last  year. 
In  addition  to  the  above  5,177  books  have  been  dis- 
tributed through  the  other  distributing  agencies." 

There  were  in  the  library  May  1,  1911,  31,678 
volumes.  During  the  year  just  closed  there  was  a 
net  gain  of  3,657  volumes  making  the  total  number 
of  volumes  in  the  library  May  1,  1912,  35,426. 

The  officers  of  the  Houston  Lyceum  and  Carne- 
gie Library  Association  are:  Mr.  E.  L.  Dennis, 
president;  Mrs.  H.  F.  Ring,  vice-president;  Mrs. 
I.  S.  Meyer,  secretary;  Mrs.  E.  N.  Gray,  treasurer; 
Mrs.  E.  Raphael,  corresponding  secretary,  and 
Miss  Julia  Ideson,  librarian. 

The  Ladies  Reading  Club,  organized  in  1885  by 
Mrs.  M.  Looscan  and  Mrs.  C.  M.  Lombardi,  is  the 
oldest  and  largest  of  Houston's  purely  literary 
clubs. 

The  Ladies  Shakespeare  Club  was  organized  in 
1890  with  Mesdames  E.  Raphael,  I.  G.  Gerson,  L 
Blandin,  Blanche  Booker  and  Misses  C.  R.  Red- 
wood, Lydia  Adkisson  and  Mary  Light  as  charter 
members.  This  club  has  kept  its  organization  and 
has  been  in  active  existence  since  its  formation. 

Another  Shakespeare  Club  was  organized  in  1904 
by  Mrs.  A.  G.  Howell,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Lockett  and 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  143 

Mrs.  J.  W.  Carter.  This  club  is  very  active  and 
great  interest  is  taken  by  its  members  in  the  work 
they  have  outlined  for  themselves. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  the  women's 
clubs  in  Houston  is  the  Current  Literature  Club, 
which  was  organized  in  1899  by  Mrs.  Si  Packard. 
The  club  was  originally  organized  for  the  purpose 
of  reading  current  novels  and  light  literature,  but 
the  members  soon  grew  ambitious  and  more  substan- 
tial books  were  taken  up  and  discussed,  until  to- 
day the  club  represents  through  its  members  the 
cultured  literary  taste  of  Houston. 

The  Houston  Pen  Womens'  Association  was  or- 
ganized in  1906  by  eighteen  ladies  who  met  at  the 
residence  of  Mrs.  William  Christian  for  the  purpose 
of  forming  an  association  composed  of  ladies  en- 
gaged in  newspaper  and  literary  work.  Mrs.  Eliza- 
abeth  Strong  Tracy  was  chosen  as  the  first  presi- 
dent and  Mrs.  Dancey  as  first  secretary.  The  mem- 
bership consists  of  historians,  poets,  authors,  journ- 
alists and  newspaper  workers  and  the  association  has 
been  wonderfully  successful,  showing  a  consistent 
growth  and  influence  ever  since  the  day  of  its  or- 
ganization. 

A  Chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American 
Revolution  was  organized  in  Houston  in  1899  by 
Mrs.  Seabrook  W.  Sydnor,  who  had  been  appointed 
regent  by  the  general  organization.  The  chapter 
took  the  names  of  Lady  Washington  Chapter.  The 
organization  has  been  in  active  operation  since  its 
organization  and  has  accomplished  a  great  deal  in 


144  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  or 

the  way  of  patriotic  work.  San  Jacinto  Chapter 
No.  2,  Daughters  of  the  Republic  of  Texas,  was 
organized  in  1901.  The  chapter  has  accomplished 
a  wonderful  amount  of  valuable  work,  having  for 
its  object  the  perpetuation  of  the  memory  of  those 
who  fought  for  Texas'  independence,  and  has  col- 
lected valuable  historical  data.  This  chapter  has 
taken  under  its  care  San  Jacinto  battlefield  and  has 
marked  with  suitable  monuments  and  tablets,  his- 
torical points  and  localities  associated  with  early 
Texas  history. 

Robert  E.  Lee  Chapter,  186,  United  Daughters 
of  the  Confederacy,  was  organized  in  1897  and 
Oran  M.  Roberts  Chapter,  440,  United  Daugh- 
ters of  the  Confederacy,  was  organized  in 
1901.  Each  chapter  has  a  large  membership  and 
their  meetings  are  always  largely  attended.  Since 
their  organization  they  have  accomplished  much 
good,  both  in  the  way  of  collecting  and  preserving 
historical  data  and  in  looking  after  indigent  and 
disabled  Confederate  veterans. 

There  are  a  great  many  charitable,  musical  and 
literary  associations  in  Houston,  nearly  every  one 
having  been  organized  and  kept  alive  by  the  ladies. 
Nearly  all  the  societies,  in  the  beginning,  had  meet- 
ing places  of  their  own,  but  since  the  completion  of 
the  Library  building  nearly  all  of  them  meet  in  the 
elegant  quarters  provided  for  that  purpose,  by  the 
Library  Association. 

The  Labor  associations  of  Houston  are  numer- 
ous and  are  thoroughly  organized.  The  following 


HARRIS  COUNTY  COURT  HOUSE 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  145 

facts  are  taken  from  a  statement  published  by  Mr. 
Max  Andrew,  editor  of  the  Labor  Journal : 

The  total  number  of  industrial  workers  in  Hous- 
ton is  25,000,  graded  as  follows:  Men,  15,000; 
women,  6,000;  children  fifteen  years  and  under, 
4,000.  Organized:  Men,  55  per  cent;  women,  2 
per  cent. 

Of  the  skilled  trades,  85  per  cent  are  organized 
and  15  per  cent  unorganized. 

During  the  last  ten  years  the  hours  of  labor  have 
been  decreased,  all  along  the  line,  from  ten  hours  to 
eight  hours. 

During  the  last  ten  years  there  has  been  an  aver- 
age increase  in  wages  of  25  per  cent.  However, 
against  that  increase  is  placed  the  increased  cost  of 
living  which  amounts  to  40  per  cent. 

The  total  number  of  organized  men  and  women  in 
Houston  is  8,250.  The  plumbers,  printers,  brick- 
masons,  plasterers,  stone-cutters  and  marble  cutters 
are  the  best  organized  of  any  of  the  crafts.  All 
trades  limit  the  number  of  apprentices.  This  has 
done  much  towards  maintaining  a  living  wage  for 
the  journeyman. 

Public  sentiment  and  feeling  towards  union  labor 
in  this  city  and  community  is  very  favorable  and  all 
important  work  is  done  by  union  labor. 

Since  the  general  public  has  only  a  vague  idea  of 
labor  matters  and  of  the  conditions  that  prevail  in 
labor  circles,  the  following  extracts  are  taken  from 
Mr.  Andrew's  article,  as  matters  of  useful  infor- 


146  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

mation.  The  following  are  the  working  conditions 
that  prevail  in  various  branches  of  labor,  both  or- 
ganized and  unorganized : 

Packing  House — Number  of  employed,  men  and 
children,  500.  Wages,  for  men,  $1.50  to  $2.00  per 
day;  for  women,  75  cents  to  $2.00  per  day;  for 
children,  50  cents  to  $1.00  per  day.  No  Sunday 
work.  Little  opportunity  for  training  or  educa- 
tional advancement.  Employes  not  organized. 

In  the  railroad  shops  and  yards,  there  are  about 
4,000  employed.  About  25  per  cent  of  laborers  work 
on  Sundays.  Conditions  very  good  for  training  and 
educational  advancement.  Average  wage  for  all 
employes  about  $2.50  per  day.  Ninety  per  cent  of 
wrorkers  organized. 

In  the  cotton-oil  mills  and  compresses  there  are 
about  1,500  employed.  Wages  of  men,  $1.50  to 
$2.50  per  day;  for  women,  $1.00  to  $1.25  per  day; 
for  children,  50  cents  to  75  cents  per  day.  Work 
covers  only  six  months  of  the  year.  No  opportunity 
for  training  or  educational  advancement.  Condi- 
tions far  in  advance  of  those  found  in  other  South- 
ern States. 

In  the  saw  mills  and  factories  the  number  of  em- 
ployes is  500.  Wages  for  skilled  men,  $2.50  to 
$3.00  per  day;  unskilled  men,  75  cents  to  $1.75  per 
day;  women,  50  cents  to  $1.00  per  day;  children, 
25  cents  to  75  cents  per  day.  Little  opportunity  for 
training  or  educational  advancement.  About  105 
organized. 

In  the  general  stores  there  are  about  3,000  em- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  147 

ployed.  Wages  for  men,  $5.00  to  $18.00  per  week; 
women,  $3.50  to  $10  per  week;  children,  $1.50  to 
$5.00  per  week.  Conditions  deplorable,  for  not  one 
in  a  thousand  of  the  employees  has  the  slightest 
chance  for  training  or  educational  advancement. 
Unless  the  general  public  interferes  Houston  will 
soon  parallel  the  large  cities  where  young  woman- 
hood is  sacrificed  at  the  altar  of  greed  and  avarice. 
This  labor  is  unorganized. 

There  are  about  500  employed  at  the  breweries. 
Working  conditions  exceptionably  good.  Wages 
range  from  $2.00  to  $5.00  per  day.  Hours  of  labor 
eight  per  day.  The  breweries  operate  24  hours  per 
day,  labor  being  divided  into  three  shifts  of  eight 
hours  each.  Employees  thoroughly  organized.  All 
work  mm  in  the  breweries,  where  steadily  em- 
ployed, must  join  the  Brewers  Union. 

There  are  about  5,000  common  laborers  in  Hous- 
ton. Wages,  for  men  $1.25  to  $2.00  per  day; 
women,  50  cents  to  $1.25  per  day;  children,  25 
cents  to  $1.00  per  day.  Only  about  10  per  cent  of 
these  laborers  are  organized. 

There  are  about  3,000  employed  in  the  industrial 
crafts.  That  is  in  addition  to  those  working  in  rail- 
road shops,  mills,  etc. 

Carpenters  and  Joiners. — Approximately  75  per 
cent  organized.  Wages,  union,  $4.00  per  day; 
non-union,  $3.50  per  day.  Educational  and  train- 
ing conditions  fine.  No  Sunday  work.  Steady 
employment  the  year  round. 

Plasterers. — Conditions  good.     Ninety  per  cent 


143  A  TKUME-XAIL  HI.VTORY  OF 

crganized.    Wages,  union  men.  86.00  per  day;  non- 
union men,  $3.50  per  day.    No  Sunday  work. 

Sheetmetal  Workers.— Steady  work  the  whole 
year.  Wages,  union  men,  $3.50  to  $4.50  per  day. 
Non-union  men,  lower.  About  905  of  the  craft 
organized. 

Brickmasons. — Conditions  fine.  Wages,  union 
men,  $6.00  to  $7.00  per  day;  non-union  men,  $3.00 
to  $4.00  per  day.  About  95  per  cent  organized, 

Machinists.— Steady  work  an  the  year.  Wages, 
union  men,  $3.80  per  day;  non-union  men,  $2.50 
per  day. 

Theatrical  Stage  Employes. — Conditions  reason- 
ably good.  Wages  range  from  $15.00  to  $25.00 
per  week.  Sunday,  as  well  as  every  day,  work. 

Blacksmiths. — About  65  per  cent  organized. 
Wages,  union  men,  $3.80  per  day;  non-union  men, 
£2,50  per  day. 

Lathers. — Steady  employment  Wages,  union 
men,  84.00  to  $6.00  per  day;  non-union  men,  $2.50 
per  day. 

Printers. — Thoroughly  organized.  Wages.  -S3. -50 
to  $8.00  per  day,  according  to  men  and  position. 
About  75  per  cent  of  the  printers  are  home  owners. 

Pressmen. — Thoroughly      organized.      Wages. 

83.50  per  day.    There  are  a:s     many  home  owners 
among  the  pressmen. 

Bookbinders. — Thoroughly  organized.  Work 
eight  hours  per  day.  Wages.  *4.00  per  day. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  149 

Electrical  Workers. — About  80  per  cent  organ- 
ized. Wages,  $3.50  to  $4.50  per  day.  All  members 
at  work. 

Bartenders. — About  80  per  cent  organized. 
Wages  $15.00  to  $21.00  per  week. 

Tailors. — Poorly  organized.  Hours  of  labor,  ten 
hours  per  day.  Wages,  $2.00  to  $3.00  per  day, 
mostly  in  piece  work. 

Coopers. — Thoroughly  organized.  Average 
wages,  $2.85  to  $4.00  per  day.  Hours  of  labor, 
eight  hours  per  day. 

Bridge  and  Structural  Iron  Workers. — Organ- 
ized 100  per  cent.  Hours  of  labor,  eight.  Wages, 
$3.50  to  $4.50  per  day.  Plenty  of  work.  Duties 
most  hazardous. 

Boiler  makers. — About  905  organized.  Wages, 
$3.50  to  $5.00  per  day  for  union  men;  non-union 
men,  scale  lower. 

Marble  Workers. — Thoroughly  organized. 
Wages,  $4.00  to  $6.00  per  day.  Work  eight  hours 
a  day. 

Journeyman  Barbers. — Both  white  and  negroes 
organized.  Conditions  above  the  average.  No 
Sunday  work. 

Elevator  Constructors. — Thoroughly  organized. 
All  employed  at  present.  No  Sunday  work.  Wages 
$4.00  per  day. 

Pattern  Makers. — Well  organized.  Work  nine 
hours  a  day.  Wages  50  cents  per  hour. 

Garment  Workers. — This  is  the  only  organized 


150  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

craft  of  women  workers.  Membership  about  200 
strong.  Work,  eight  hours  a  day.  Wages,  $9.00 
to  $18.00  per  week.  No  Sunday  labor.  Sanitary 
conditions  exceptionally  good. 

Horseshoers. — Organized  about  75  per  cent. 
Wages,  $2.50  to  $3.50  per  day.  Work  eight  hours 
a  day. 

Stationary  Engineers. — Organized  about  805. 
Average  wages  about  $3.00  to  $4.00  per  day. 

Painters,  Decorators  and  Paperhangers. — Or- 
ganized about  80  per  cent.  Work  eight  hours  per 
day.  Wages,  $3.50  to  $4.00  per  day. 

Plumbers. — Thoroughly  organized.  Work  eight 
hours  a  day.  Wages  $6.00.  The  union  has  many 
educational  features  to  perfect  the  skill  of  its  mem* 
bers. 


CHAPTER  TEN. 

The  Houston  Cotton  Exchange  and  Board  of 
Trade — Some  Houston  Cotton  Compresses — 
The  Houston  Chamber  of  Commerce — Hous- 
ton's Large  Manufacturing  and  Business  Con- 
cerns. 

COMMERCIAL  BODIES. 

Unquestionably  the  first  commercial  organiza- 
tion in  Texas  was  the  old  Chamber  of  Commerce 
organized  in  Houston  April  5,  1840,  with  Mr.  Per- 
kins as  president.  Unfortunately  this  association 
has  left  nothing  but  a  name,  for  there  is  no  record 
of  work  done  by  it,  though  it  is  fair  to  presume  that 
it  accomplished  some  of  the  objects  for  which  it 
was  formed. 

Not  for  thirty-four  years  was  another  attempt 
made  to  form  a  commercial  body  in  this  city.  On 
May  16,  1874,  a  number  of  the  prominent  business 
men  of  Houston  met  in  one  of  the  parlors  of  the 
Hutchins  House  and  organized  the  Houston  Board 
of  Trade  and  Cotton  Exchange.  Mr.  C.  S.  Long- 
cope  was  elected  president,  Mr.  Wm.  J.  Hutchins, 
vice-president  and  Mr.  George  W.  Kidd,  secretary. 

The  new  organization  went  actively  to  work.  Per- 
kins Hall,  used  also  as  a  theatre  at  times,  was 
leased ;  Mr.  Kidd  purchased  some  small  blackboards 
and  with  no  other  furniture  or  fixings,  the  Ex- 
change was  officially  declared  open  and  ready  for 
business.  At  that  time  telegraph  tolls  were  very 


152  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

high,  in  fact  they  were  prohibitive  so  far  as  the  new 
exchange  was  concerned  and  the  amount  of  com- 
mercial news  and  quotations  received  by  the  ex- 
change in  a  full  working  day  was  about  equal  to 
that  now  received  in  a  few  minutes,  even  on  dull 
days.  Mr.  Kidd  helped  out  the  quotations  by  using 
the  scant  commercial  report  received  by  the  Hous- 
ton Telegraph,  of  which  paper  he  was  also  com- 
mercial editor. 

Conditions  such  as  these  prevailed  for  the  first 
three  years  of  the  exchange's  existence,  or  until 
1877.  In  that  year  the  business  men  appear  to  have 
recognized  the  great  values  of  the  exchange  and  to 
have  rallied  to  its  support.  Something  like  a  reor- 
ganization took  place  within  the  exchange.  A  new 
charter  was  obtained  and  the  name  of  the  organiza- 
tion was  changed  to  the  Houston  Cotton  Exchange 
and  Board  of  Trade.  New  rules  and  regulations 
were  adopted,  the  initiation  fee  was  increased  and 
provision  was  made  for  a  regular  and  permanent 
income  through  fees  and  dues,  for  the  support  of 
the  exchange.  From  that  moment  the  course  of 
the  exchange  has  been  upward,  until  today  no  com- 
mercial body  in  the  South  stands  higher  in  every 
way  than  the  Houston  Cotton  Exchange  and 
Board  of  Trade. 

Not  content  with  caring  for  and  regulating  the 
large  and  constantly  growing  cotton  business  of 
Houston,  the  exchange  was  always  found  in  the 
front  ranks  of  those  working  for  the  good  and  ad- 
vancement of  the  city.  For  a  number  of  years  the 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  153 

exchange  has  had  among  its  standing  committees 
one  whose  special  duty  it  is  to  look  after  the  welfare 
of  the  ship  channel.  When  the  present  efficient 
Chamber  of  Commerce  was  formed,  the  Cotton 
Exchange  turned  over  to  the  new  organization  an 
immense  amount  of  work,  that  before  that  was  be- 
ing looked  after  by  the  exchange.  It  retained  its 
interest  in  the  ship  channel,  however,  and  while 
working  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  and  all  other  Houston  organizations  is 
still  found  working  most  zealously. 

In  1883  the  members  of  the  exchange  deter- 
mined to  build  a  home  of  their  own.  Ground  was 
purchased,  plans  adopted  and  on  November  15, 
1884,  the  new  building  was  turned  over  to  the  ex- 
change by  the  contractors.  It  was  a  very  handsome, 
though  small,  building  and  answered  every  pur- 
pose for  which  it  had  been  constructed  for  many 
years.  In  later  years  it  was  remodeled.  Additional 
stories  were  added  and  today  the  exchange  build- 
ing is  one  of  the  most  attractive  and  valuable  build- 
ings in  the  city. 

There  is  no  Cotton  Exchange  in  the  South  more 
prosperous  than  the  Houston  exchange.  When  it 
was  first  organized  a  membership  cost  only  $1  a 
month  or  $12  a  year.  Now  a  certificate  of  mem- 
bership costs  $2,000  and  it  is  difficult  to  secure  one 
at  even  that  price.  The  annual  dues  on  each  certif- 
icate are  $50,  while  provision  is  made  for  fees  and 
other  dues  for  the  maintainance  of  the  exchange. 


154  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

The  following  gentlemen  have  served  as  presi- 
dents of  the  exchange  since  its  organization: 

C.  S.  Longcope 1874-75 

Wm.  D.  Cleveland 1875-76 

George  L.  Porter 1876-77 

H.  R.  Percy 1877-78 

S.  K.  Mcllhenny . .  . 1878-79 

Wm.  V.  R.  Watson 1879-80 

A.  H.  Lea 1880-81 

S.  K.  Mcllhenny 1881-82 

S.  A.  McAshan 1882-84 

Wm.  D.  Cleveland 1884-91 

Wm.  Read 1891-92 

H.  W.  Garrow 1892-1902 

W.  D.  Cleveland. 1902-05 

W.  E.  Andrews 1905-06 

W.  O.  Ansley 1906-07 

E.  W.  Taylor. 1907-08 

A.  L.  Nelms 1908-12 

Mr.  George  W.  Kidd,  the  first  secretary  of  the 
exchange,  served  actively  until  1898  when  he  be- 
came secretary  emeritus.  He  was  succeeded  by 
Mr.  B.  W.  Martin  who  resigned  to  accept  a  more 
lucrative  position  and  was  succeeded  in  turn  by  Mr. 
B.  R.  Warner.  Mr.  Warner  after  serving  from 
1899  to  1903  resigned  to  return  to  newspaper  work 
in  New  Orleans.  In  1904  Mr.  W.  J.  DeTreville 
was  elected  secretary  and  served  until  June,  1910, 
when,  on  his  death,  Mr.  J.  F.  Burwell,  the  present 
efficient  secretary  was  elected. 

With  its  immense  lumber,  oil,  rice  and  manufac- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  155 

turing  interests  Houston  long  ago  passed  that  point 
in  its  progress  where  its  prosperity  depended  on  any 
single  commodity  or  industry.  Like  other  commer- 
cial  centers  Houston  for  some  years  counted  heav- 
ily on  its  cotton  receipts  for  its  prosperity,  but  does 
so  no  longer.  The  Houston  merchants  are  not  in- 
different to  the  great  value  of  the  cotton  business, 
however,  and  they  are  anxious  to  get  all  of  it  pos- 
sible, and  with  the  object  of  doing  so,  they  have  left 
nothing  undone  to  make  this  the  most  attractive 
market  and  concentrating  point  in  the  South.  They 
have  constructed  large  compresses  and  cotton  ware- 
houses and  now  have  some  of  the  largest  and  most 
conveniently  situated  buildings  of  that  kind  on  this 
continent. 

The  great  fire  which  occurred  in  the  Fifth  Ward 
early  this  year  destroyed  three  of  Houston's  fine 
compresses,  but  there  are  three  large  ones  left  and 
two  are  being  constructed  on  so  great  a  scale  that 
when  completed  in  time  to  handle  the  coming  crop, 
Houston  will  have  the  finest  facilities  for  handling 
and  caring  for  cotton  in  the  South. 

The  presses  destroyed  were  the  Cleveland,  the 
Standard  and  the  Southern,  their  combined  capacity 
of  presses  being  3,000  bales  daily  and  their  storage 
capacity  about  100,000  bales.  The  Cleveland  and 
the  Merchants  have  combined  and  plans  are  now  be- 
ing perfected  for  the  erection  of  the  finest  and 
largest  compress  and  warehouse  in  the  world.  The 
storage  capacity  will  be  limited  only  by  the  re- 
strictions of  the  insurance  companies,  which  com- 


156  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

panics  are  unwilling  to  insure  so  great  an  amount  of 
cotton  as  the  company  could  care  for,  but  for  these 
restrictions.  It  is  certain  that  the  storage  capacity 
of  the  new  press  will  not  be  less  than  300,000 
bales.  The  company  owns  something  like  seventy 
acres  of  land  on  the  ship  channel  and  therefore  will 
not  be  restricted  by  want  of  space.  Captain  W.  D. 
Cleveland  is  the  head  of  the  new  company. 

Houston  already  has  in  the  Magnolia  Warehouse 
and  Storage  Company  one  of  the  best  equipped, 
largest  and  most  powerful  presses  in  the  country. 
Every  compress  and  warehouse  in  Houston  is  lo- 
cated either  on  the  banks  of  the  bayou  or  on  a  rail- 
road and  all  of  them  have  rail  connection.  The  re- 
sult is  that  drayage,  a  costly  feature  in  handling  cot- 
ton, is  entirely  eliminated  and  the  business  is  con- 
ducted economically  and  expeditiously.  Last  sea- 
son there  were  shipped  down  the  bayou  about  400,- 
000  bales  of  cotton.  As  each  bale  represented  a 
saving  to  the  owner  of  12  1-2  cents  because  there 
was  no  drayage,  it  is  evident  that  the  shipments  rep- 
resented about  $50,000  saving.  No  other  cotton 
market  in  the  world  can  or  does  do  business  so 
cheaply. 

The  history  of  Houston's  cotton  business  is  of 
more  than  passing  interest  since  in  its  entirety  it 
represents  every  phase  of  the  evolution  of  the 
world's  cotton  trade.  As  already  noted  in  these 
pages,  in  the  early  days  all  cotton  raised  in  the  State 
was  brought  here  by  ox-wagons  for  marketing. 
The  Houston  merchants  bought  the  cotton  both 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  157 

with  cash  and  groceries  and  goods.  It  was  a  most 
satisfactory  method  of  doing  business  and  both  the 
farmer  and  merchant  profited  by  the  transaction. 
After  the  merchant  had  accumulated  a  sufficient 
number  of  bales  to  warrant  his  doing  so  he  shipped 
the  cotton  down  the  bayou  to  Galveston  to  be 
placed  on  chartered  vessels,  to  be  shipped  to  Liver- 
pool or  other  foreign  markets.  Since  there  was  no 
way  of  knowing  how  prices  were  ruling  in  the  for- 
eign markets,  the  merchant  guarded  against  pos- 
sible loss  by  discounting  his  last  information  ma- 
terially and  paying  from  seven  to  ten  dollars  per 
bale  less  for  the  cotton  than  he  estimated  it  to  be 
worth.  This  was  fair  since  there  was  always  serious 
danger  of  a  heavy  decline  in  prices  before  the  cot- 
ton could  arrive  on  the  other  side.  After  the  rail- 
roads were  built  in  Texas,  Galveston  became  the 
great  cotton  market  of  the  State  and  every  bale 
raised  in  Texas  was  shipped  there.  One  thing  that 
helped  build  up  Galveston  was  the  fact  that  there 
were  no  such  things  as  through  bills  of  lading  and 
rail  rates  favored  the  port.  In  1874  J.  H.  Blake  & 
Co.  established  their  firm  in  Houston  and  soon 
evolved  a  plan  for  overcoming  the  disadvantages 
under  which  Houston  was  placed.  By  an  arrange- 
ment made  with  the  Houston  &  Texas  Central  and 
the  International  Railroads  this  firm  was  enabled 
to  buy  cotton  in  the  interior,  bring  it  to  Houston  and 
then  ship  it  out  again  either  by  rail  or  by  water. 
Under  this  arrangement  Messrs.  Blake  &  Co.  made 
the  first  shipment  of  cotton  from  an  interior  point 


158  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

to  a  foregin  market  on  a  through  bill  of  lading  in 
1874.  This  was  the  first  shipment  of  the  kind  ever 
made.  That  method  of  doing  business  soon  placed 
Houston,  if  not  on  an  equal  footing,  at  least  on 
nearly  such  with  Galveston  and  saved  this  market 
from  utter  extinction. 

Then  the  system  of  buying  and  selling  future  con- 
tracts was  established.  This  was  perhaps  the  great- 
est advance  that  could  possibly  have  been  made  to- 
wards stability  of  the  cotton  market,  and  the  es- 
tablishment of  something  like  uniform  prices  all 
over  the  world.  The  system  was  not  complicated 
but  was  very  simple.  Cotton  was  purchased  on 
this  side  only  when  prices  in  Liverpool  were  favor- 
able for  such  purchases.  The  cost  of  freight,  in- 
surance, commission  and  other  charges  were  added 
to  the  price  paid  for  the  cotton  and  then,  if  Liver- 
pool prices  were  sufficiently  high  to  warrant  doing 
so  the  cotton  was  bought  and  future  contracts  sold 
in  Liverpool  by  cable.  In  that  way  every  possible 
chance  of  loss  was  eliminated  from  the  transaction, 
for  when  the  cotton  arrived  on  the  other  side  the 
future  contract  was  closed  out,  the  difference  in 
the  price  of  the  contract  and  the  price  of  the  actual 
cotton  equalling  each  other. 

The  next  great  change  that  took  place  was  more 
radical  and  farreaching.  In  their  effort  to  do  away 
with  middle-men,  the  spinners  on  the  other  side 
established  buying  agencies  of  their  own  on  this 
side.  These,  in  turn,  established  sub-agencies  all 
over  the  country,  so  that  the  producer  of  cotton  in- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  159 

stead  of  having  to  seek  a  market,  found  one  right 
at  his  door.  There  was  such  competition  between 
the  buyers  that  the  highest  prices  possible  were  paid 
in  order  to  get  the  cotton.  Every  cross  road  and 
little  town  in  the  State  became  a  center  of  informa- 
tion about  prices  and  the  farmer  could  learn  every 
morning  the  quotation  of  that  day  both  in  American 
and  foreign  markets. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  it  would  be  necessary 
to  provide  some  place  where  large  quantities  of  cot- 
ton could  be  concentrated  for  inspection,  classifica- 
tion and  arranging  for  final  shipment.  The  Hous- 
ton cotton  men  realized  that  a  most  radical  change 
in  the  method  of  marketing  cotton  was  about  to 
take  place  and  they  began  at  once  to  prepare  them- 
selves to  care  for  this  concentrated  cotton.  Old 
warehouses  and  compresses  were  enlarged  and  new 
ones  erected.  The  storing  capacity  of  the  city  was 
materially  increased  and  when  the  work  was  fin- 
ished Houston  was  most  thoroughly  equipped  to 
meet  all  demands  that  could  be  made  on  her.  An- 
other thing  that  was  done,  which  shows  the  great 
forethought  of  the  Houston  merchants,  was  re- 
ducing all  local  charges  to  the  lowest  point  possible. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  make  money  directly 
from  the  compresses  and  warehouses,  as  such,  but 
these  were  used  very  much  as  so  much  capital,  to 
attract  and  keep  the  cotton  business  here.  It  is 
a  fact  that  can  not  be  disputed  that  today  Houston's 
local  charges  on  a  bale  of  cotton  are  from  25  cents 
to  30  cents  per  bale  cheaper  than  are  those  in  any 


160  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

other  cotton  market  in  the  South.  Now  when  to 
this  saving  in  local  charges  is  added  the  further 
saving  of  from  10  cents  to  12  cents  through  the 
absence  of  drayage,  it  is  readily  seen  why  so  much 
cotton  is  shipped  here  and  why  Houston  stands  so 
prominently  forward  as  a  great  cotton  market. 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce that  was  organized  in  Houston  in  1840,  but 
the  present  magnificent  body  of  that  name  has 
no  direct  nor  indirect  connection  with  that  early 
body.  The  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  today  is  for 
today  and  looks  more  to  future  accomplishments 
than  to  traditions  of  the  past. 

The  immediate  forerunner  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  was  the  Houston  Business  League, 
which  was  organized  in  1895  by  about  forty  gentle- 
men who  had  for  their  object  the  formation  of  an 
association  to  look  after  the  best  interests  of  Hous- 
ton. Col.  R.  M.  Johnston,  editor  of  the  Houston 
Post,  and  Mr.  W.  W.  Dexter,  at  present  editor 
and  proprietor  of  the  Bankers'  Journal,  were  prime 
movers  in  the  organization  and  did  much  to  insure 
its  success.  The  constitution  adopted  declared 
the  following  to  be  the  object  of  the  association: 

"The  object  of  the  Houston  Business  League  is 
to  promote  immigration,  to  create  and  extend 
and  foster  the  trade,  commerce  and  manufactur- 
ing interests  of  Houston;  to  secure  and  build  up 
transportation  lines;  to  secure  reasonable  and  equi- 
table transportation  rates;  to  build  up  and  main- 
tain the  value  of  our  real  estate,  progressive,  ef- 


'!!»!!  Si 


11 !! !!        ii f 

SI!!!!!!! !i  ii  i 

II II  El  11  El   1 


"ill! 


i  Him  i! 
[  ii  ii  ii  i; 


SOUTHERN  PACIFIC  OFFICES 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  161 

ficient  and  economical  administration  of  our  mu- 
nicipal government,  to  collect,  preserve  and  dis- 
seminate information  in  relation  to  our  commer- 
cial, financial  and  industrial  affairs  and  to  unite, 
as  far  as  possible,  our  people  in  one  respresentative 
body." 

The  following  gentlemen  were  chosen  as  the  first 
officers  of  the  new  organization:  J.  M.  Cotton, 
president;  Ed  Kiam,  first  vice  president;  J.  C. 
Bering,  second  vice  president;  E.  T.  Heiner,  third 
vice  president;  W.  W.  Dexter,  secretary;  Guy  H. 
Harcourt,  treasurer. 

After  serving  for  only  a  short  time,  Secretary 
Dexter  resigned  and  Mr.  George  P.  Brown  was 
chosen  as  his  successor.  The  election  of  Mr.  Brown 
was  a  most  fortunate  thing  for  the  Business 
League,  since  he  brought  to  its  service  splendid 
executive  and  administrative  talent  and  a  wonder- 
ful amount  of  energy  and  zeal.  Under  Mr.  Brown's 
administration  the  Business  League  forged  rapidly 
to  the  front,  A  large  number  of  manufacturing 
and  industrial  plants  were  secured  for  Houston,  the 
Floral  Festival  and  No-Tsu-Oh  associations  were 
formed  and  the  name  of  the  city  was  placed  perma- 
nently on  the  map  of  the  country. 

In  1910  the  Business  League  was  enlarged  and 
practically  a  reorganization  took  place.  The  name 
Business  League  was  dropped  and  the  organiza- 
tion became  the  Houston  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
Mr.  Adoph  Boldt  was  secretary  at  the  time  and  it 
was  largely  due  to  him  that  the  scope  of  the  asso- 


162  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

ciation's  objects  and  energy  were  enlarged.  He 
recognized  the  magnitude  of  the  field  and  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  was  organized  to  fill  every 
part  of  it.  In  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  there  is 
a  general  association,  but  all  the  details  of  practical 
work  are  in  the  hands  of  special  committees  who 
have  absolute  authority  and  freedom  of  action,  be- 
ing responsible  only  to  the  general  association. 
These  committees  are  called  bureaus.  There  is,  for 
instance,  the  Traffic  Bureau,  to  which  is  referred 
all  matters  relating  to  freight  rates,  rate  discrimi- 
nations and  questions  of  that  kind.  There  is  a 
Convention  Bureau  which  looks  after  securing  con- 
ventions to  meet  in  Houston  and  looks  after  the  en- 
tertainment of  strangers  who  come  to  such  conven- 
tions. There  is  a  Publicity  Bureau,  an  Industrial 
Bureau,  which  looks  after  securing  manufacturing 
and  industrial  concerns  for  Houston,  and  a  num- 
ber of  other,  no  less  important  bureaus.  It  will 
be  seen  from  this  how  thoroughly  organized  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  is.  One  of  the  most  pleas- 
ing features  connected  with  the  organization  is  the 
perfect  harmony  that  exists  between  it  and  other 
organizations  working  either  directly  or  indirectly 
towards  accomplishing  the  same  ends.  The  citizens 
attest  their  faith  in  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  by 
giving  it  the  most  loyal  support,  and  it  is  today  one 
of  the  strongest  and  most  efficient  organizations 
of  its  kind  in  the  South.  Its  officers  are :  Adolph 
Boldt,  secretary;  C.  G.  Roussel,  assistant  secretary; 
C.  C.  Oden,  traffic  manager;  Jerome  H.  Farbar, 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  163 

director  of  publicity.  There  are  of  course  a  great 
many  business  men  heads  of  committees  and  good 
workers  too,  but  the  gentlemen  named  are  the  real 
workers  and  the  ones  who  accomplish  things. 

The  average  citizen  does  not  know  how  much 
good  has  been  accomplished  for  Houston  by  the 
Ch amber  of  Commerce,  nor  how  much  good  is  being 
planned  for  the  future.  It  is  a  working  body  and  it 
does  not  confine  its  labors  to  union  hours,  of  an 
eight  hour  day,  but  puts  in  every  waking  hour  of 
the  entire  twenty-four.  A  vast  amount  of  valuable 
information  has  been  collected,  and  preserved  in 
such  form  as  to  be  immediatey  available. 

Houston  is  today  the  home  of  vast  commercial 
and  manufacturing  enterprises,  most  of  them  hav- 
ing come  here  during  the  last  six  or  eight  years.  It 
is,  for  instance,  the  largest  lumber  market  in  the 
Southwest  and  one  of  the  largest  in  the  world. 
That  does  not  mean  that  there  are  extensive  mills 
and  manufacturing  plants  here,  but  it  does  mean 
that  about  all  the  lumber  made  in  Texas  is  con- 
trolled and  handled  by  Houston  firms,  which  are 
the  greatest  in  the  South.  There  are  over  250 
great  sawmills  in  Texas,  Louisiana  and  Arkansas 
controlled  and  represented  through  offices  located 
here. 

The  following  are  the  big  Houston  firms  with  the 
capacity  of  their  plants: 

Kirby  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers,  400,- 
000,000  feet. 


164  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

Long-Bell  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers, 
500,000,000  feet. 

West  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers,  '175,- 
000,000  feet. 

W.  H.  Norris  Lumber  Company,  wholesalers, 
100,000,000  feet. 

Vaughan  Lumber  Company,  wholesalers,  100,- 
000,000  feet. 

Continental  Lumber  and  Tie  Company,  whole- 
salers, 100,000,000  feet. 

Trinity  River  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers, 
60,000,000  feet. 

Central  Coal  and  Coke  Company,  manufacturers, 
50,000,000  feet. 

W.  T.  Carter  &  Brother,  manufacturers,  50,- 
000,000  feet. 

Carter  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers,  40,- 
000,000  feet. 

W.  R.  Pickering  Lumber  Company,  manufac- 
turers, 50,000,000  feet. 

Sabine  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers,  40,- 
000,000  feet. 

Ray  &  Mihils,  wholesalers,  40,000,000  feet. 

Carter-Kelly  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers, 
30,000,000  feet. 

Big  Tree  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers  and 
wholesalers,  30,000,000  feet. 

C.  R.  Cummings  &  Co.,  manufacturers,  25,000,- 
000  feet. 

J.  S.  and  W.  M.  Rice,  manufacturers,  25,000,000 
feet.  f 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  165 

Gebhart-Wllliams-Fenet,  manufacturers,  25,- 
000,000  feet. 

Bland  &  Fisher,  manufacturers,  25,000,000  feet. 

J.  C.  Hill  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers, 
20,000,000  feet. 

L.  B.  Manefee  Lumber  Company,  manufactur- 
ers, 20,000,000  feet. 

R.  W.  Wier  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers, 
20,000,000  feet. 

Alf.  Bennett  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers 
and  wholesalers,  20,000,000  feet. 

R.  C.  Miller  Lumber  Company,  manufacturers, 
20,000,000  feet. 

Bush  Brothers,  manufacturers,  15,000,000  feet. 

Southern  Pinery  Tie  and  Lumber  Company, 
manufacturers  and  wholesalers,  10,000,000  feet. 

The  foregoing  foot  up  within  a  fraction  of  two 
billion  feet  of  lumber  annually  controlled  by  Hous- 
ton firms. 

Houston  is  the  recognized  center  of  all  that  re- 
lates to  handling  refining,  exporting  and  financing 
the  output  of  the  Texas  oil  fields  and  is  rapidly 
assuming  the  same  relation  to  the  oil  fields  of  Okla- 
homa. An  idea  of  the  importance  of  Houston  in 
this  respect  may  be  formed  from  the  statement  that 
there  are  five  large  oil  refineries  here,  thirteeen  oil 
dealers  and  thirty-nine  producers  and  exporters, 
twenty-three  of  the  latter  being  large  concerns  and 
that  Houston  has  the  largest  independent  oil  com- 
pany in  the  United  States,  the  Texas  Company, 
with  a  capital  of  $36,000,000.  Pipe  lines  from 


166  A  THUMB-XAIL  HISTORY  OF 

all  the  Texas  fields  and  from  Oklahoma  converge 
at  Houston  and  additional  lines,  to  cost  something 
like  87,000,000,  are  being  constructed. 

Houston  naturally  holds  first  place  as  a  rice 
market,  since  it  has  every  advantage.  Aside  from 
the  physical  aspect  there  is  something  of  a  senti- 
mental side  to  the  question,  for  it  was  a  Houston 
man  who  first  pointed  out  the  possibilities  of  rice 
culture  and  who  actually  took  steps  to  develop  it. 
The  late  J.  R.  Morris,  as  early  as  the  middle  seven- 
ties, organized  a  company  and  took  out  a  charter, 
the  object  being  to  cultivate  rice  in  all  that  territory 
lying  between  Houston  and  the  San  Jacinto  river. 
He  had  a  survey  made  which  resulted  in  demon- 
strating that  Houston  is  about  twenty-eight  feet 
lower  than  some  near  point  on  the  San  Jacinto  river 
from  which  he  proposed  to  start  his  canal.  He 
wanted  to  deflect  the  water  from  the  river  and  use 
it  in  irrigating  the  prairie  lands  and  also  to  utilize 
the  surplus  in  running  machinery  at  the  mouth  of 
White  Oak  Bayou,  at  the  foot  of  Main  street.  For 
some  reason  nothing  was  ever  done  by  Mr.  Morris 
and  his  associates,  but  attention  was  drawn  to  the 
possibilities  of  rice  culture,  which  has  resulted  in 
its  becoming  one  of  the  large  and  rapidly  grow- 
ing industries  of  Texas.  At  the  time  of  Mr.  Mor- 
ris' death  it  is  doubtful  if  there  was  as  much  as  an 
acre  of  ground  in  Texas  devoted  to  the  cultivation 
of  rice.  Today  rice  holds  third  place  in  point  of 
importance  among  the  crops  of  the  State.  Harris 
county  alone  has  30,000  acres,  while  there  are  253,- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  167 

560  acres  in  all,  of  which  about  200,000  acres  are 
tributary  to  Houston. 

Houston  has  five  rice  mills  with  a  daily  capacity 
of  7,600  bags,  while  the  capacity  of  all  the  mills  in 
the  State  is  *J.VJ()0  hags.  The  annual  production 
averages  about  two  and  a  quarter  million  bags, 
Houston  handling  about  three-fourths  of  it. 

I  ncluding  the  railroad  shop  workers  there  are  sev- 
eral thousand  wage-earners  in  Houston  employed 
all  the  year  round  to  whom  is  paid  something  like 
$8,500,000  annually.  This  is  not  for  one  year,  but 
is  for  every  year  and  therefore  it  is  not  surprising 
that  Houston  should  be  known  as  the  best  retail 
town  in  Texas.  There  are  over  twelve  hundred  re- 
tail dealers  who,  according  to  an  estimate  made  by 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  based  on  almost  com- 
plete returns,  do  an  annual  business  of  $55,000,000. 

The  wholesale  business  of  Houston  is  very  great, 
estimated  by  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  at  $90,- 
000,000  annually.  The  leading  articles  and  the 
amount  of  business  done  in  each  are  as  follows: 
Machinery,  $3,000,000;  hardware,  $4,000,000; 
lumber,  $35,000,000;  petroleum  products,  $1,000,- 
000;  drugs  and  chemicals,  $4,000,000;  paints  and 
glass,  $1,000,000;  furniture,  $1,400,000;  dry  goods, 
$1,750,000;  liquors,  $1,250,000;  beer  and  ice,  $2,- 
500,000;  groceries,  $8,000,000;  produce,  $4,600,- 
000;  sugar  and  molasses,  $2,000,000;  tobacco,  $1,- 
250,000;  packing  house  products,  $3,750,000. 
When  to  these  is  added  the  business  done  in  build- 
ing material,  paving  material,  electrical  supplies 


168  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

and  other  things,  it  becomes  apparent  that  the  esti- 
mate of  $90,000,000  must  be  under  rather  than 
above  the  actual  figures. 

Not  counting  the  railroads,  trust  companies  and 
banks,  there  are  376  incorporated  companies  doing 
business  in  Houston,  the  combined  capital  of  which 
is  $145,943,900.  There  are,  of  course,  thousands 
of  individuals  and  numerous  unincorporated  com- 
panies doing  business  in  addition  to  these,  which 
shows  the  magnitude  of  Houston  as  a  trade  center. 

In  the  early  days  the  Houston  merchants  and 
property  owners  who  wished  to  insure  against  fire 
loss  were  compelled  to  send  to  New  Orleans  for 
their  policies,  for  there  were  no  local  insurance 
agents  here.  These  conditions  prevailed  until  1858, 
when  Mr.  John  Dickinson  established  the  first 
agency  in  Houston,  he  representing  a  New  Or- 
leans firm.  Just  about  the  time  Mr.  Dickinson  got 
his  office  working  satisfactorily  and  began  doing  a 
lucrative  business,  the  war  broke  out  and  knocked 
his  business  into  a  cocked  hat. 

In  1868  the  first  local  insurance  company  was  or- 
ganized in  Houston.  This  was  the  Planters'  Fire 
Insurance  Company,  which  did  a  good  business  un- 
til 1880,  when  a  disastrous  cotton  fire  occurred, 
causing  such  heavy  losses  to  the  company  that  it 
went  into  voluntary  liquidation. 

In  1895  the  Houston  Fire  and  Marine  Insurance 
Company  was  organized.  This  company  did  a 
good  business  for  several  years,  but  through  the  in- 
nocent purchase  of  a  lot  of  bogus  bonds,  it  was 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  169 

forced  to  suspend  and  go  out  of  business  a  few 
years  ago. 

The  Guarantee  Life  Insurance  Company  was  the 
first  life  insurance  company  organized  in  Houston. 
It  was  organized  in  1906  with  a  capital  stock  of 
$100,000  and  prospered  from  the  very  beginning. 
It  does  an  immense  business  and  has  over  $13,000,- 
000  insurance  in  force.  The  officers  of  the  Guar- 
antee are:  Jonathan  Lane,  president;  John  H. 
Thompson,  vice  president  and  Charles  Boedeker, 
secretary -treasurer. 

The  Great  Southern  Life  Insurance  Company 
is,  in  some  respects,  a  wonderful  organization.  It 
was  organized  in  1909  and  though  it  is  less  than 
three  years  old,  it  has  done  and  is  still  doing,  an 
immense  business.  It  has  a  capital  of  $500,000  and 
a  surplus  of  $500,000  and  outstanding  insurance  of 
over  ten  million  dollars.  Among  its  policy  holders 
is  one  who  is  insured  for  $100,000,  the  largest  policy 
ever  written  in  Texas  for  one  person.  The  officers 
of  the  Great  Southern  are:  J.  S.  Rice,  president; 
O.  S.  Carlton,  C.  G.  Pillot,  J.  S.  Cullinan  and  P. 
H.  McFadden  of  Beaumont,  vice  presidents ;  J.  T. 
Scott,  treasurer  and  Louis  St.  J.  Thomas,  secre- 
tary. 


CHAPTER  ELEVEN. 

The  First  Telegraph  Line  in  Texas — Two  Vet- 
eran Operators — First  Telephones — The  Wire- 
less Telegraph  Companies — Organization  of  the 
First  Electric  Light  Company. 

The  Houston  Telegraph  of  March  18,  1853, 
mentions  the  fact  that  some  of  the  material  for  the 
telegraph  line  betwen  Houston  and  Galveston  had 
been  received  at  the  latter  place.  At  that  time  the 
land  part  of  the  line  had  been  constructed,  but  the 
two-mile  stretch  across  the  bay  at  Virginia  Point 
was  causing  a  great  deal  of  trouble.  Modern  sub- 
marine cables  wrere  unknown  at  that  time  and  many 
substitutes  for  them  were  suggested  and  tried. 
Finally  the  difficulty  was  overcome  by  using  ordi- 
nary iron  wire  covered  with  gutta  percha,  which 
was  warranted  by  its  maker  to  last  for  one  year  and 
which  cost  $350  per  mile.  But  before  the  problem 
was  solved,  the  land  part  of  the  line  grew  old  and 
fell  down,  so  that  it  was  not  until  1858  that  an  act- 
ual working  line  was  constructed  between  the  two 
cities,  this  being  the  first  telegraph  line  constructed 
in  Texas.  It  was  not  a  great  financial  undertaking, 
since  the  cost  of  the  entire  fifty  miles  including  the 
two  miles  of  bay,  was  only  $6,200,  of  which  the 
Houston  people  contributed  $3,000. 

Having  constructed  the  Galveston-Houston  line 
successfully,  the  owners  formed  a  company  called 
the  Star  State  Telegraph  Company  and  built  a 
line  along  the  Texas  and  New  Orleans  railroad 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  171 

which  was  being  constructed  about  that  time.  When 
the  war  occurred  the  company  had  its  line  completed 
to  Orange  in  East  Texas.  As  an  item  of  interest 
it  may  be  stated  here  that  when  the  Texas  ports 
were  blockaded  during  the  war  it  was  almost  im- 
possible to  get  sulpuric  acid  with  which  the  batteries 
of  those  days  were  operated,  and  that  telegraphing 
would  have  been  impossible  had  not  some  genius 
found  that  the  acid  water  from  Sour  Lake  made 
an  admirable  substitute  for  sulphuric  acid.  The 
telegraph  batteries  were  charged  with  Sour  Lake 
water  and  all  difficulty  disappeared. 

Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  the  Star  State 
Company  was  absorbed  by  the  Southwestern  Tele- 
graph Company  which  then  covered  most  of  the 
Southern  States.  Mr.  D.  P.  Shepherd,  who  is 
possibly  the  oldest  telegraph  operator  in  this  coun- 
try, and  of  whom  it  is  said  that  he  was  the  first  op- 
erator in  the  world  to  take  a  message  by  ear,  was 
placed  in  charge  of  the  new  telegraph  company  with 
headquarters  in  Houston. 

In  1867  the  Southwestern  was  absorbed  by  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company,  the  latter 
company  thus  gaining  control  of  all  the  telegraph 
lines  in  the  United  States.  The  Western  Union 
remained  master  of  the  field  until  late  in  1910, 
when  it,  in  turn,  was  absorbed  by  the  Southwestern 
Telegraph  and  Telephone  Company,  the  largest 
corporation  of  its  kind  in  the  world. 

The  first  manager  of  the  Western  Union  in 
Houston  was  Mr.  Merrit  Harris,  who  died  during 


172  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

the  great  yellow  fever  epidemic  of  1867  and  was 
succeeded  by  Col.  Phil  Fall,  who  has  the  distinction 
of  being  the  oldest  operator  in  actual  service  in  this 
country. 

The  Postal  Telegraph  Company  opened  its  of- 
fice in  Houston  during  July,  1898.  The  establish- 
ment was  merely  on  a  small  scale,  but  by  strict  at- 
tention to  business  has  managed  to  build  up  an  im- 
mense business  and  has  made  itself  a  formidable 
competitor  of  the  Southwestern  Telegraph  and  Tel- 
ephone Company  in  the  local  field.  The  Postal 
aims  at  promptness  and  dispatch,  and  has  thus 
earned  an  enviable  reputation. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1910  the  Mackey  Telegraph 
and  Cable  Company  established  its  chief  office  in 
Houston,  thus  making  Houston  the  great  telegraph 
center  of  the  State.  All  the  companies  have  direct 
cable  connection  with  all  parts  of  the  world,  but 
the  Mackey  company  has  facilities  possessed  by  no 
other  company.  The  cable  business  out  of  Houston 
is  immense  and  the  general  telegraphing  done  by 
all  the  Houston  lines,  amounts  to  very  near  four 
million  messages  each  year  and  is  constantly  in- 
creasing. 

The  Houston  Telegram  of  June  18,  1878,  says: 

"Mr.  J.  W.  Stacey,  the  efficient  manager  of  the 
Western  Union  Telegraph  office  in  this  city,  has 
procured  a  telephone  of  the  latest  improved  con- 
struction, which  he  will  put  up  for  use  during  the 
military  encampment  of  the  volunteeers  of  the  State 
next  week.  The  line  will  run  from  the  Fair  Grounds 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  173 

to  Mr.  G.  W.  Baldwin's  library  room  in  the  Tele- 
gram building  and  everybody  wishing  to  have  the 
pleasure  of  conversing  with  a  friend  a  mile  distant 
will  have  an  opportunity.  Our  friends  from  the 
country  and  many  in  the  city  who  are  skeptical  about 
the  truthful  working  of  the  wonderful  instrument, 
will  have  an  opportunity  to  test  it  to  their  satisfac- 
tion. To  many  of  them  it  will  be  quite  a  curiosity, 
and  we  expect  to  see  its  capacity  fully  tried.  Mr. 
Stacey  will  make  a  trial  test  today  and  will  have  the 
apparatus  in  perfect  working  order  by  the  end  of 
the  week." 

During  the  fall  of  the  same  year,  Mr.  Pendarvis, 
who  was  telegraph  operator  for  the  Morgan  Trans- 
portation Company,  connected  his  office  in  Hous- 
ton with  the  office  in  Clinton,  ten  miles  away  and 
for  a  time  had  direct  telephone  connection  between 
the  two.  Commenting  on  this  innovation  the  Hous- 
ton Telegram  stated  that  unquestionably  when  the 
great  convenience  of  the  telephone  was  appreci- 
ated they  would  be  installed  in  railroad  depots,  bus- 
iness houses  and,  perhaps,  residences.  This  predic- 
tion has  come  true  in  a  much  greater  degree  than  the 
Telegram  supposed  possible. 

It  was  not  until  1880  that  a  telephone  exchange 
was  established  in  Houston.  Two  years  later  Mr. 
G.  W.  Foster  took  charge  of  the  exchange  and  it 
was  largely  through  his  efforts  and  the  hearty  and 
valuable  assistance  of  his  wife  that  the  telephone 
business  in  Texas  attained  such  huge  proportions  in 
so  short  a  time.  Mr.  Foster  is  still  an  active  man 


174  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

in  the  company  and  fills  one  of  the  higher  offices. 

The  local  company  has  just  completed  its  own 
skyscraper  at  a  cost  of  about  $1,000,000,  and  has 
equipments  for  caring  for  20,000  subscribers  with- 
out making  further  additions  to  its  plant. 

Houston's  long  distance  telephone  system  is 
very  complete,  there  being  twelve  circuits  to  Gal- 
veston,  seven  to  Beaumont,  three  to  San  Antonio, 
three  to  Dallas  and  one  each  to  Fort  Worth  and 
Corpus  Christi.  Each  of  these  direct  circuits  has 
branch  circuits  reaching  all  parts  of  the  State. 

In  addition  to  the  old  telephone  company  there 
is  an  automatic  telephone  company  also  operating 
in  Houston.  This  company  owns  its  own  home, 
an  elegant  building  on  Rusk  avenue  near  the  Fed- 
eral building. 

There  are  two  wireless  telegraph  companies  oper- 
ating in  Houston.  One  is  a  strictly  private  affair 
owned  by  the  Texas  Company.  This  company  has 
2,700  miles  of  private  wires  in  Texas,  Oklahoma 
and  Kansas.  It  uses  these  wires  for  business  pur- 
poses, but  keeps  its  wireless  plant  always  in  readi- 
ness for  use  in  case  of  failure  of  its  wires.  The 
company  owns  similar  outfits  at  Beaumont  and  in 
Oklahoma. 

The  other  company,  the  Texas  Wireless 
Telegraph-Telephone,  is  the  only  one  engaged  in 
public  and  commercial  business.  The  company  has 
perfectly  equipped  stations  at  Houston,  San  An- 
tonio, Victoria,  Fredericksburg,  Waco  and  Fort 
Worth.  It  is  distinctly  a  home  company,  for  all  of 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          175 

its  stock  is  owned  by  Texans  while  its  officers  and 
managers  are  all  Texans. 

The  Houston  Electric  Light  Company  was  or- 
ganized in  1882,  by  Mr.  E.  Raphael.  Its  first  of- 
ficers were:  E.  Raphael,  president;  D.  F.  Stuart, 
secretary.  The  board  of  trustees  were:  A.  Grose- 
beck,  B.  A.  Botts,  F.  A.  Rice,  E.  P.  Hill,  D.  F. 
Stuart,  J.  C.  Hutcherson,  G.  L.  Porter  and  E. 
Raphael.  Only  the  old  Brush  carbon  light  was 
used.  Mr.  Raphael  exhibited  the  first  incandes- 
cent lamp  ever  seen  in  Houston  in  August,  1883. 
The  great  merit  of  the  incandescent  lamp  was  rec- 
ognized at  once  and  Mr.  Raphael  secured  a  contract 
to  equip  the  Howard  Oil  Mill  plant  with  them.  This 
was  the  first  installation  of  incandescent  electric 
lights  in  a  building  in  Texas.  Mr.  Raphael  and 
his  associates  conducted  the  business  for  a  year  or 
so  and  then  sold  their  plant  to  the  Houston  Gas 
Company.  That  company  organized  the  present 
electric  light  company  in  1894. 


CHAPTER  TWELVE. 

The  Rice  Institute — Brief  Sketch  of  Mr.  Rice — 
Organization  of  the  Great  Educational  Center. 

Among  the  very  early  settlers  in  the  new  town  of 
Houston  was  Mr.  Wm.  M.  Rice,  who  was  destined 
to  impress  his  name  indelibly  on  this,  his  adopted 
home.  Mr.  Rice  was  a  remarkable  man.  He  be- 
gan his  mercantile  life  in  a  modest  way,  but  by 
strict  attention  to  every  detail  of  his  business  he 
was  soon  able  to  extend  his  field  of  operation.  His 
success  was  assured  from  the  beginning,  and,  having 
the  money  making  instinct,  or  faculty,  largely  de- 
veloped, he  soon  became  one  of  the  best  known  and 
most  prosperous  merchants  of  the  city.  Much  has 
been  said  and  written  about  him.  Some  things 
absolutely  true  and  some  largely  imaginative. 
Those  who  knew  him  are  aware  of  the  fact  that  he 
would  not  have  appreciated  some  of  the  latter.  Mr. 
Rice  was  intensely  practical,  and  cared  little  for  the 
applause  of  the  crowd.  He  was  a  successful  mer- 
chant, a  king  of  finance  and  nothing  more.  He  was 
absolutely  honest  and  just,  and  what  was  more  to 
the  point,  he  was  as  just  to  himself  as  he  was  to 
others.  If  he  made  a  contract  he  carried  out  every 
detail  and  he  required  those  who  made  the  other 
side  to  do  the  same.  If  he  owed  money  he  paid 
every  cent  of  the  debt  and  those  who  owed  him 
money  were  required  to  settle  in  full.  He  was 
merely  an  ordinary  merchant  and  business  man, 
though  a  remarkably  successful  one. 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          177 

Had  the  early  friends  and  associates  of  Mr.  Rice 
been  asked  to  select  one  of  their  number  who  would 
make  a  princely  donation  towards  the  cause  of  edu- 
cation, the  chances  are  ten  to  one  that  Mr.  Rice 
would  never  have  been  selected.  If  he  ever  gave  a 
thought  to  art,  science  or  literature  no  one  knew 
of  it.  The  first  intimation  that  he  took  the  least 
interest  in  educational  matters  was  given  some  time 
during  the  middle  eighties  when  the  city  was  en- 
deavoring to  raise  money  to  purchase  what  was 
known  as  Academy  Square  and  the  old  building 
that  stood  on  it,  for  the  purpose  of  turning  it  into 
a  high  school.  The  property  had  been  owned  by  a 
company  but  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  private 
citizen  and  the  city  wanted  to  buy  it.  Mr.  Rice  was 
living  in  New  York  at  the  time,  but  was  paying  an 
annual  visit  to  Houston  when  the  purchase  matter 
came  up.  Mr.  E.  Raphael,  who  was  very  close  to 
Mr.  Rice,  and  who  looked  after  some  of  his  Hous- 
ton interests  for  him,  was  requested  by  a  committee 
of  citizens  to  ask  Mr.  Rice  for  a  subscription  to  the 
fund.  Mr.  Raphael  did  so  and  was  met  by  a 
prompt  refusal,  Mr.  Rice  stating  that  it  was  the 
duty  of  the  city  and  not  of  individuals  to  care  for 
such  things  as  public  schools.  Then  he  surprised 
Mr.  Raphael  by  telling  him  that  he  was  thinking  of 
a  plan  by  which  he  hoped  to  establish  a  great  edu- 
cational institution  here.  A  few  months  later  he 
took  into  his  confidence  a  few  gentlemen  and, 
after  a  thorough  discussion  of  his  plans,  an  organi- 
zation was  formed  and,  in  1891,  a  charter  was  ap- 


178  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

plied  for  and  granted.  The  terms  of  the  charter 
were  most  liberal  and  the  trustees  were  given  wide 
latitude  for  the  future  organization  of  a  great  non- 
political,  non-sectarian  institution  of  technical  learn- 
ing to  be  dedicated  to  the  advancement  of  letters, 
science  and  art,  to  be  located  in  the  adopted  home 
of  Mr.  Rice.  As  a  nucleus  for  the  endowment 
fund,  Mr.  Rice  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees 
an  interest  bearing  note  for  $200,000. 

The  original  trustees  were  the  following  named 
gentlemen:  Mr.  Rice,  himself;  his  brother,  Mr.  F. 
A.  Rice,  Mr.  A.  S.  Richardson,  Mr.  James  A.  Ba- 
ker, Mr.  J.  E.  McAshan,  Mr.  E.  Raphael  and  Mr. 
C.  M.  Lombardi.  Under  the  terms  of  the  charter 
this  board  is  made  self -perpetuating  and  its  mem- 
bers are  elected  for  life.  Since  its  organization 
vacancies  have  been  filled  by  the  selection  of  the 
following:  Mr.  Wm.  M.  Rice,  Jr.,  a  nephew  of  Mr. 
Rice,  Mr.  B.  B.  Rice  and  Dr.  E.  O.  Lovett. 

Having  taken  the  first  step,  Mr.  Rice  became 
infatuated  with  the  idea  he  had  conceived,  and  from 
time  to  time,  transferred  to  the  trustees  large  in- 
terests and  then,  by  his  will,  left  the  bulk  of  his 
large  fortune  to  the  institute. 

Mr.  Rice  was  murdered  in  New  York  in  1900 
and  there  was  a  long  fight  in  court  over  his  will. 

When  the  trustees  finally  came  into  possession 
of  the  full  resources  of  the  foundation,  which  now 
amount  to  approximately  ten  million  dollars,  they 
invited  Dr.  Edgar  Odell  Lovett,  Professor  in 
Princeton  University,  to  assist  them  in  formu- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          179 

lating  and  executing  the  educational  programme 
of  the  Institute.  The  President  thereupon  under- 
took a  year's  journey  of  study  which  extended  from 
England  to  Japan;  on  the  completion  of  this  pre- 
liminary investigation,  a  most  suitable  site  of  three 
hundred  acres  was  secured,  and  to  Messrs.  Cram, 
Goodhue  and  Ferguson,  of  Boston,  was  committed 
the  task  of  designing  a  general  architectural  plan 
consistent  with  the  programme  which  had  been 
adopted  for  the  Institute. 

In  1911,  on  the  seventy-fifth  anniversary  of 
Texan  Independence,  the  corner-stone  of  the  Ad- 
ministration Building  was  laid  by  the  trustees. 
This  building,  together  with  the  first  wing  of  the 
Engineering  Quadrangle,  the  Mechanical  Labor- 
atory and  Power  House,  and  the  first  Residential 
Hall  for  Men,  is  rapidly  nearing  completion.  The 
initial  building  schedule  includes  also  special  lab- 
oratories for  instruction  and  investigation  in  phys- 
ics, chemistry,  and  biology,  and  in  the  application 
cf  these  sciences  to  the  arts  of  industry  and  com- 
merce. In  the  preparation  of  these  preliminary 
laboratory  plans  the  Institute  has  enjoyed  the  co- 
operation of  an  advisory  committee  consisting  of 
Professor  Ames,  director  of  the  physical  laboratory 
of  Johns  Hopkins  University;  Professor  Conklin, 
director  of  the  biological  laboratory  of  Princeton 
University;  Professor  Richards,  chairman  of  the 
department  of  chemistry,  Harvard  University; 
and  Professor  Stratton,  director  of  the  National 
Bureau  of  Standards. 


180  A  THUMB-XAIL  HISTORY  or 

The  academic  work  of  the  Institute  will  begin 
this  autumn  on  the  23rd  day  of  September.  A  few 
days  later  the  formal  opening  will  be  observed 
with  appropriate  ceremonies  of  inauguration  and 
dedication,  on  October  10th,  llth,  and  12th,  1912. 
Distinguished  scholars  and  scientists  from  a  num- 
ber of  foreign  seats  of  learning  have  consented  to 
participate  in  the  proceedings  of  this  the  Insti- 
tute's first  academic  festival  by  preparing  lectures 
in  the  fundamental  sciences  of  mathematics,  phys- 
ics, chemistry,  and  biology,  and  in  the  liberal  hu- 
manities of  philosophy,  history,  letters,  and  art. 

The  initial  staff  of  the  Institute  will  be  or- 
ganized in  a  faculty  of  science  and  a  faculty  of 
letters.  Of  those  who  have  been  selected  for  posi- 
tions under  the  direction  of  the  faculty  of  science  it 
is  possible  to  announce  the  following  elections,  the 
names  appearing  in  alphabetical  order: 

Philip  Heckman  Arbuckle,  B.  A.  (Chicago),  of 
Georgetown,  Texas;  Director  of  Athletics  in 
Southwestern  University;  to  be  Instructor  in  Ath- 
letics. 

Percy  John  Daniell,  M.  A.  (Cambridge),  of 
Liverpool,  England;  Senior  Wrangler  and  Ray- 
leigh  Prizeman  of  the  University  of  Cambridge; 
Lecturer  in  Mathematics  at  the  University  of 
Liverpool;  to  be  Research  Associate  in  Applied 
Mathematics. 

William  Franklin  Edwards,  B.  Sc.  (Michi- 
gan), of  Houston,  Texas;  formerly  Instructor 
in  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  later  Presi- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS          181 

dent  of  the  University  of  Washington ;  to  be  Lec- 
turer in  Chemistry. 

Griffith  Conrad  Evans,  Ph.  D.  (Harvard),  of 
Rome,  Italy;  Sheldon  Fellow  of  Harvard  Uni- 
versity ;  to  be  Assistant  Professor  of  Pure  Mathe- 
matics. 

Julian  Sorrell  Huxley,  M.  A.  (Oxford),  of  Ox- 
ford, England;  Newdigate  Prizeman  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oxford;  Lecturer  in  Biology  at  Bal- 
liol  College,  and  Inter-collegiate  Lecturer  in  Ox- 
ford University;  to  be  Research  Associate  in  Bi- 
ology. 

Francis  Ellis  Johnson,  B.  A.,  E.  E.  (Wiscon- 
sin), of  Houston,  Texas;  recently  with  the  Brit- 
ish Columbia  Electric  Railway  Company;  to  be 
Instructor  in  Electrical  Engineering. 

Edgar  Odell  Lovett,  Ph.  D.  (Virginia  and 
Leipsic),  LL.  D.  (Drake  and  Tulane),  of  Hous- 
ton, Texas;  formerly  Professor  of  Mathematics 
in  Princeton  University,  and  later  Head  of  the 
Department  of  Astronomy  in  the  same  institu- 
tion; President  of  the  Institute;  to  be  Professor 
of  Mathematics. 

William  Ward  Watkin,  B.  Sc.  (Pennsylvania), 
Architect,  of  Houston,  Texas;  to  be  Instructor  in 
Architectural  Engineering. 

Harold  Albert  Wilson,  F.  R.  S.,  D.  Sc.  (Cam- 
bridge), of  Montreal,  Canada;  Fellow  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge  University;  formerly  Pro- 
fessor in  King's  College,  London;  Research  Pro- 


182  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

fessor  in  McGill  University;  to  be  Professor  of 
Physics. 

There  is  being  constituted  a  faculty  of  letters  in 
which  will  be  developed  facilities  for  elementary 
and  advanced  courses  in  the  so-called  humanities, 
thereby  enabling  the  Institute  to  offer  both  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  liberal  general  education  and  those  of 
special  and  professional  training.  For  these  facul- 
ties of  science  and  letters  the  best  available  instruc- 
tors and  investigators  are  being  sought  in  the  hope 
of  assembling  in  Houston  a  group  of  unusually 
able  scientists  and  scholars  through  whose  pro- 
ductive work  the  new  university  should  speedily 
take  a  place  of  considerable  importance  among  the 
established  institutions  of  the  country. 

The  subjects  in  which  instruction  will  be  pro- 
vided as  rapidly  as  possible  are  mathematics,  phys- 
ics, chemistry,  biology,  engineering,  architecture, 
ancient  languages,  modern  languages,  history, 
and  politics,  philosophy  and  psychology,  economics 
and  sociology,  and  art  and  archeaeology.  The  pro- 
grammes of  study  are  being  so  arranged  as  to  of- 
fer a  variety  of  courses  leading  after  four  years  of 
undergraduate  work  to  bachelor's  degrees  in  arts, 
in  science,  in  letters,  and  in  their  applications  to 
the  several  fields  of  engineering,  domestic  arts, 
and  other  regions  of  applied  science.  Extensive 
general  courses  in  the  various  domains  of  scientific 
knowledge  will  be  available,  but  in  the  main  the 
programmes  will  consist  of  subjects  carefully  co- 
ordinated and  calling  for  considerable  concentra- 


THE  CITY  OF  HOUSTON,  TEXAS  183 

tion  of  study.  For  the  advanced  degrees,  Master 
of  Arts,  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  and  Doctor  of  En- 
gineering, every  facility  will  be  afforded  properly 
qualified  graduate  students  to  undertake  lines  of 
study  and  research  under  the  direction  of  the  In- 
stitute's resident  and  visiting  professors. 

Candidates  for  admission  to  the  Institute  who 
present  satisfactory  testimonials  as  to  their  charac- 
ter will  be  accepted  either  upon  successful  exam- 
ination in  the  entrance  subjects  or  by  certificate  of 
graduation  from  an  accredited  public  or  private 
high  school. 

There  will  be  no  charge  for  tuition  and  no  fees 
for  registration  or  examination  in  the  Institute.  A 
small  deposit  will  be  required  to  cover  possible 
breakage  in  the  laboratories  and  losses  from  the 
libraries;  the  balance  from  this  contingent  fee  is, 
of  course,  returnable  at  the  close  of  the  session. 

Rooms  in  the  Residential  Hall,  for  men,  com- 
pletely furnished  exclusive  of  linen,  together  with 
table  board  at  the  Institute  Commons,  will  be 
available  for  from  eighteen  to  twenty  dollars 
per  month  of  four  weeks.  For  both  single  and 
double  rooms  the  rental  will  be  uniform  without 
regard  to  their  location,  and  they  will  be  let  in  the 
order  of  applications  received.  Diagrams  showing 
the  floor  plans  will  be  sent  on  request  to  any  one 
who  may  be  interested.  Accommodations  for  the 
residence  of  young  women  on  the  university 
grounds  will  not  be  offered  during  the  coming 
year.  The  Residential  Hall  for  Men  is  of  absolute- 


184  A  THUMB-NAIL  HISTORY  OF 

ly  fire-proof  construction,  heated  by  steam,  lighted 
by  electricity,  cleaned  by  vacuum  apparatus,  and 
equipped  with  the  most  approved  forms  of  sanitary 
plumbing,  providing  adequate  bathing  facilities  on 
every  floor. 

The  general  plan  for  the  improvement  of  the 
site  of  the  Institute  calls  for  a  number  of  play- 
ing and  exhibition  fields  in  the  vicinity  of  the  resi- 
dential groups.  In  fact  the  wide  expanse  of  the 
campus  affords  abundant  space  for  every  variety 
of  physical  exercise.  A  determined  effort  will  be 
made  to  systematize  and  make  general  a  sane  de- 
votion to  out-door  sports  in  climatic  conditions, 
which  render  athletics  and  open-air  gymnastics 
profitably  possible  the  whole  year  round.  The 
daily  time-table  of  each  student  will  include  a  def- 
inite period  under  the  instructor  in  athletics.  Sim- 
ilarly with  a  view  to  developing  every  student  in 
the  manly  art  of  self-defense  in  oratory  and  dispu- 
tation there  have  been  appointed,  in  the  South 
Tower  of  the  first  Residential  Hall  for  Men,  halls 
for  two  literary  and  debating  societies,  whose  activ- 
ities should  supplement  the  work  of  certain  chairs 
under  the  faculty  of  letters. 


